The Door Is Opened
by x0wlx
Summary: Mainly focuses on Riku's side after he's trapped in KH, but there's plenty or Sora too ;) New allies and new enemies on both sides of the story, as well as a few OC's to spice things up! -COMPLETED! FINAL CHAPTER HAS BEEN REDONE!- Please Review :)
1. New Introductions

AN: Ok! Finally I've gotten this up! That took forever! Anyways, I have come to warn you. The chapters I write are VERY long, and this story itself is going to very long, I just need to type it all out. So, beware, if you want to read this, don't complain that it's taking up too much of your preciouse time because YOU HAVE BEEN WARED! Yup, so, enjoy reading if your going to continue!  
  
Disclaimers: Sadly, I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Disney including everything in them. But I DO own something *evil laugh* *cough* ahem I'm ok, but you'll know what they are when you read about them ^-^  
  
New Introductions  
  
Sora, Donald and Goofy ran over yet another hill to try and catch up with Pluto. The dog seemed to run on endlessly ahead of them.  
  
"Oh! Ah, slow down Pluto ol' boy!" called Goofy. His name pretty well fit his description; he had the appearance of a lanky, skinning black dog that walked on two legs. He was the head sergeant for King Mickey, a human sized black and white mouse that ruled the Disney Kingdom.  
  
"Does he really know where King Mickey is or does he just want to play and be chased?" panted 14-year-old Sora. His brown spiky hair bounced up and down with every step the excited youth took.  
  
"I'm pretty sure he DOES know where the king is, why else would he have that letter?" replied Donald the Duck, head mage to King Mickey. As you could guess, Donald was a short little duck with, what some would call, a big loud and sometimes annoying mouth, "so don't loose sight of him!"  
  
Sora groaned and looked up again. Pluto had stopped at the top of another hill that seemed bigger than the rest.   
  
Sora had been traveling with Donald and Goofy ever since his island was taken over by the heartless, beings without hearts, and the three had gone on a quest to seal the door to darkness, Kingdom Hearts. They had visited many worlds in order to dispel the darkness and Sora had made many new friends while he searched for his island friends Riku and Kairi. Now, with Kingdom Hearts sealed and Mickey and Riku supposedly being sealed inside, Sora couldn't wait to get his hands on that letter that boar the seal of King Mickey himself.  
  
Finally, Sora and the rest reached the top and stopped to catch his breath. He then took the letter the yellow dog was carrying and read it aloud:  
  
"Dear Sora, Donald and Goofy,  
  
I just want you to know that I'm ok. I managed to find a portal to get out of Kingdom Hearts. Don't worry, nothing with more evil then good in it could pass through so no heartless followed me. I'll be waiting for you guys in a small town across the fields. Pluto will lead you there. See you soon!"  
  
The letter was then sighed with the crest of King Mickey, a head of a mouse with two big circular ears. After finishing the letter all four of them, including Pluto, looked down toward the bottom of the hill. Sure enough, there was a small town sitting at the hills base. Sora smiled, Riku! he thought to himself, We'll finally all be together again!   
  
Sora was referring to his best friend, the boy named Riku a year older than Sora who had lived with him on their home of Destiny Islands. The two had been separated during the invasion of the heartless and Sora hoped that King Mickey had brought back his friend from the world of the heartless known as Kingdom Hearts.  
  
Without warning, Sora bounded down the hillside so fast that his spiky brown hair blew in the wind.  
  
"Sora!" yelled Donald, "Wait!"  
  
Sora didn't hear and kept running.  
  
"A, guess we should follow him," said Goofy to Donald. Donald nodded and they both ran after Sora who had almost reached the town.  
  
Sora walked through the streets of the town taking in as much as he could. With his baby blue eyes wide, he stopped to look at things in shop windows. There were many different shops and lots to see in each. The town wasn't as big as Traverse Town but is sure was busier. People crowded the streets and there were still many people in every shop. There were different kinds of people too. People from far away that Sora had never seen before whit exotic pets on their shoulders. It seem that there were mostly farmers inhabiting the town though.  
  
"Sora!"  
  
Sora turned, "Oh, Donald, Goofy, check out this place!"  
  
"Sora, have you found the king?!" asked Donald.  
  
"Oh! Um..." Sora scratched his head, "Well..."  
  
"Someone looking for me?"  
  
They turned to see King Mickey standing behind them.  
  
"Your Highness," said Donald and Goofy together and bowed.  
  
"Come on inside," said Mickey pointing to an inn, "We'll talk and freshen' you guys up. You must be tired, I didn't expect you to get here until tomorrow."  
  
They all walked inside the modest, well-kept inn and Mickey led the way to the room. Refreshments were waiting on the small, circular table by a lit fire. The room was a good, comfortable size with a double bed in one of the corners. There was another door that led to another room with two beds and a couch. There was no fireplace in this room but there was a small balcony, which overlooked the hills and fields.  
  
Mickey gestured to sit down and they did. Sora grabbed a glass and drank down the delicious lemonade.  
  
"Well," said Mickey, "It's good to finally meet the Key bearer in a more formal way than at the doors of Kingdom Hearts."  
  
"You too," said Sora with a smile.  
  
"So, how exactly did you get out of Kingdom Hearts?" asked Goofy.  
  
"Well," started Mickey, "Riku and I had thought together on ways to get out, without setting the heartless loose, for a long while."  
  
Sora's heart lifted at the mention of his friends name but he didn't want to interrupt so he kept quiet.  
  
"After lots of hard thinking and a few experiments," continued Mickey, "we found out that portals could be opened that connected Kingdom Hearts to an outside world. It seemed that these portals had been around for a while and we started to wonder, 'If portals have been connecting Kingdom Hearts to other worlds why don't the heartless use them?' We experimented a little and found out why the heartless didn't just jump through a portal to a different world. It's because they are pure darkness. Only beings with more or even equal light in their hearts than darkness may pass, and the heartless are pure darkness. The heartless could of course still jump though a portal, but it would only lead back to Kingdom Hearts. But a portal could only be used once and by one person only. After it's served its purpose, it disappears. And, there were only a limited number of portals in Kingdom Hearts."  
  
"But wouldn't all the portals still be there since the heartless can't use them?" blurted out Sora.  
  
"No, you see," replied Mickey, "Even though they would only get transported back to Kingdom Hearts, it still uses the portal up. So, once the heartless found out our plan, they started searching for every last portal and used them all up. It took us forever but we finally found the last portal. We did have to fight the heartless to get it but in the end, we got through."  
  
"Great!" exclaimed Sora, "So, where's Riku?"  
  
Mickey's face grew gray.  
  
"Well, where is he?" Sora asked again.  
  
"I told him not to do it but he wouldn't listen," said Mickey softly, looking down at his feet.  
  
"What?" asked Sora though he knew the answer wasn't going to be good.  
  
Mickey paused, shut his eye's then said:  
  
"He held off the heartless so I could go through the portal. It was the last one and could only transport one person. I-I'm sorry..."  
  
"But he's not stuck forever right? Isn't there another way out?" said Sora looking up with some hope that his friend was not lost for good.   
  
Mickey shook his head slowly.  
  
Sora's hopes fell, then were crushed by overwhelming grief. He hung his head and stared at the ground. Then, he ran into the other room and Mickey closed the door.  
  
Sora blinked back tears. His best friend was gone forever. And to think that the last time they saw each other, it was as enemies and them for a second in a desperate leap to seal Kingdom Hearts. I should have been a better friend, he thought to himself, now unable to hold the tears back, That's how this all started, because I ignored him when we finally found each other in Traverse Town. He punched a pillow.  
  
"Guess there's nothing to do now but to go home, back to my island," he said aloud to himself, wiping away his tears. I'm sorry for the news I bring you Kairi.  
  
Then he fell into a dreamless sleep.  
  
~*~  
  
Riku jumped back. He had almost been eaten by a bunch of heartless that had combined to form Cerberus, the giant three-headed dog of the underworld. He watched, broken hearted, as Mickey jumped through the final portal then disappeared. His only chance to escape was gone. He felt as if the life had been sucked out of him as the portal and his last chance to leave Kingdom Hearts slowly dissolved.  
  
Riku was a very adventurous 15-year-old who would never back down from a challenge. He had fairly long silvery hair that took the appearance of downward pointed spikes and his sea green eye were usually flashing with confidence, but not today.  
  
Riku looked at the giant, black dog of heartless and lowered his head and weapon.  
  
"What's the point of living if it's going to be forever in the dark?" he said to himself and stood perfectly still, waiting for the heartless to swallow him whole.  
  
The heartless Cerberus reared then boar down over Riku.  
  
"Hey! Watch out!"  
  
A blurry figure sliced through Cerberus and all the heartless in it disappeared.  
  
"What were you thinking!? You could've been killed! And what are you doing here anyway?"  
  
Riku looked up at a girl with brown hair that had streaks of blonde and was tied into a ponytail. She was wearing a dark but slightly faded green tank top. She had dark navy blue kapris that almost seemed too long for her already long legs and had tattered pair running shoes on her feet. She looked at him with questioning brown eyes through the strands of hair that wouldn't stay tied back, causing them to fall to the sides of her fair skinned face.   
  
In her right hand was a sword with a beautifully carved design that connected the blade to the handle. The design was a star shape in a circular backing. In between the stars five points on the circle back was lines that formed rectangles and triangles to fit in the space.  
  
Riku stared at the design for a moment; he'd thought he'd seen it before.  
  
"Well?" said the girl putting her sword into it's star studded sheath.  
  
Riku looked at her face then quickly turned away.  
  
"You should've let it have me," he said.  
  
"Oh, so you do talk," she replied sarcastically. Riku scowled at her.  
  
"Just mind your own business," he said and started to walk away.  
  
"Well the least you could do is thank me or saving you life!" she yelled at him.  
  
Riku turned and looked at her. She hid it well, but Riku could see hurt deep within her eyes. He sighed.  
  
"I'm sorry, and thank you for saving me but you -" He stopped short of his sentence. "Hey! How'd you get here!?" he said now a little alarmed. Other people shouldn't be in the world of the heartless.   
  
"Me? I've been here practically forever. I don't remember how I got here, I just am," she replied, "What about you?"  
  
"I got separated from my -" he paused, thinking if Sora and Kairi would still consider him as a friend. Some friend I've been, he thought.  
  
"I got separated from my home, I'm lost."  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry," said the girl.  
  
"Listen," started Riku, "I don't think we got off on the right start."  
  
The girl smiled.  
  
"Mariha," she said, holding out her hand.  
  
"Riku," he replied and they shook hands.  
  
Riku looked into Marihas soft brown eyes. There was something familiar about them. He got the same feeling, like he'd met her before, as he did when he saw the design on her sword.   
  
"So," said Riku, "Where were you from before you ended up here?"  
  
"You'll probably think I'm crazy but," Mariha started, "One day I just woke-up and was here, with absolutely no memory of who I was or where I came from."  
  
"So how'd you know your name?" asked Riku.  
  
"I didn't. As soon as I figured out that no humans lived here, I didn't bother with naming myself. The heartless named me."  
  
Riku looked at Mariha in surprise. "How'd THEY name YOU? They don't speak do they?" he asked.  
  
"I dunno, but I sure could hear them once in a while. They started calling me something that sounded like 'Mariha' after my sword transformed and it sort of stuck with me," she replied.  
  
"Transformed? What do you mean?"  
  
"Well," started Mariha, "When I woke-up here, the heartless were all around me. I admit that I was a little scared but I was only six years old and had no memory at that time. Anyway, they prepared to attack but before a blow was thrown, my necklace burst into light and turned into this sword."  
  
Mariha pulled out the sword and gave it to Riku to look at.  
  
"Amazingly, when I took it up in my hand I could wield it easily," continued Mariha, "And most of the heartless never attacked me again, but every time they'd see me, they'd whisper something like 'Mariha' then run away."  
  
Riku looked at the design on the sword.  
  
"What does this mean?" he asked pointing to it.  
  
"I don't exactly know what it means, maybe 'Mariha' in the heartless language. But that's the design that made up the pendant on my necklace."  
  
"I see," said Riku, "But how do you know your age and not your name?"  
  
"My birthday date and year was engraved on the back of my necklace."  
  
Riku handed Mariha her sword back. Now he was positive he'd seen the design before. Mariha proved it. He'd seen it as someone's necklace.  
  
~*~  
  
Sora walked out of the room where Donald, Goofy and Mickey were talking quietly. They all looked over at Sora with concern.  
  
"Sora..." started Goofy.  
  
"I'm ok," said Sora. I don't want them to think it's their fault, he thought.  
  
"Sora." It was King Mickey, "What are you going to do now?"  
  
"I thought about it, and it's probably best for me to go home to my island," replied Sora.  
  
Mickey nodded. "Donald, Goofy, would you be so kind as to accompany Sora home?"  
  
"That's ok -"  
  
"Of course you majesty," Donald said, interrupting Sora.  
  
"You can count on use," added Goofy.  
  
"Really, you don't have to if -"  
  
But Donald and Goofy interrupted him again.  
  
"There's no way we're just going to leave our buddy!" said Goofy.  
  
"That's right! And it'd be faster with our gummi ship to take you there," Donald added.  
  
Sora smiled. "Guys, thanks a lot!"  
  
Sora, Donald and Goofy put their hands in the middle of their formed circle.  
  
"One for all and all for one!" they cheered and threw their arms up.  
  
"Sora," started Mickey. Sora turned and faced him, "Don't give up on Riku yet."  
  
Sora felt sadness come over him again but Mickey was right. Sora was the Key bearer and if anyone could help Riku, it was him. Sora nodded.  
  
Sora, Donald and Goofy walked out of the inn.  
  
"Hey Sora," said Goofy, "When you were sleeping, King Mickey, Donald and I talked and thought that the door to Kingdom Hearts might be in other worlds we haven't been to yet."  
  
Sora's hopes lifted.  
  
"Alright," he said, "Then lets go visit some new worlds!"  
  
"What about you going home?" asked Donald.  
  
Sora thought for a moment. "Well, I guess Kairi's gonna have to wait because I'm not going home until we find Riku!"  
  
"Ok, it's settled!" said Goofy, "Off to new worlds!"  
  
"Yeah!" Sora nodded and all three of them headed toward the gummi ship.  
  
~*~  
  
"Wake-up sleepy head!"  
  
"Huh?" Riku opened his eyes and Mariha was standing over him.  
  
"What time is it?" he said as he slowly and sleepily got up.  
  
"Time to get up!" replied Mariha.  
  
"That's not helpful!" Riku looked around him. It was still dark.  
  
"Why'd you wake me up?" he groaned, "It's in the middle of the night."  
  
Mariha giggled.  
  
"No it's not!" she said, "Don't you know that in the land of darkness, it's always dark? There's no night or day in Kingdom Hearts."  
  
"What!?" Oh yeah, he thought, I must have been so caught up in escaping with Mickey that I didn't even notice!   
  
Riku looked at Mariha then looked at the ground, "So, you're saying that you've never EVER seen the light of day or remember it?" He looked at her again.  
  
She sighed and nodded. "That's right."  
  
Riku looked away from her. He felt so bad. There he was, about to kill himself just because he thought there'd be no way out of Kingdom Hearts, while Mariha had been stuck here for years, had no memory of who she was and had never even seen the light of day.  
  
"I'm sorry," he said to her, "I didn't mean to..." He couldn't finish his sentence.  
  
"Hey, don't worry about it," she said, "I know we'll get out of here someday!"  
  
There was so much confidence in her voice.  
  
She doesn't give up easily either, he thought and smiled at himself. Suddenly, a picture of Sora flashed through his mind. He was a bit startled and started feeling sorry for himself again but stopped and smiled again. Yeah, he though, just like Sora never gives up.  
  
"Sides," said Mariha and Riku looked at her, snapping out of his little trance, "You're not going anywhere until you tell me everything about the outside worlds," she said pointing at him and smiling.  
  
Riku smiled back. "Well, you'd better sit down because I've got lots to tell." He motioned for her to sit beside him.  
  
Mariha's face lit up and she sat down beside him. Riku had never seen so much happiness in someone before.  
  
"Ok, so I guess I'll start with my home, Destiny Islands."  
  
~*~  
  
"Hey Donald," said Sora as the three friends flew through space, "If we closed the door to Kingdom Hearts only yesterday, how'd Mickey and Riku have so much time to figure out how to come back?"  
  
"I think there must have been a time shift there," replied Donald, "Yeah, I think every minute here is a day there or something like that."  
  
"Oh," said Sora as he looked out the window of their ship.  
  
"There it is!" said Goofy pointing to a world with a big rock formation on it.  
  
"Prepare for landing!" yelled Donald.  
  
~*~  
  
"Wow," said Mariha in amazement as Riku finished telling her about his home. He however, didn't tell her about when he left the island then about all the trouble he had caused though Sora had fixed it, mostly anyways. The joy on her face, he didn't want to ruin it, and at the same time risk keeping her friendship. What would she thing of him if she knew he was a backstabbing traitor, and they had only just met! No, he'd tell her one-day, but not now.  
  
Mariha got up and twirled around in a circle. Then, she came up to Riku and knelt in front of him, her face dangerously close to Rikus. Riku blushed and watched her watching orb-like eyes stare him down, he all of a sudden felt uncomfortable under their gaze, so close to him...  
  
"Thank you so much for telling me all that," she said smiling. Riku blushed even deeper when she smiled at him, why was he feeling like this?  
  
For a second, Riku thought that she had leaned closer so their noses almost touched, but she didn't, instead, she backed away a bit so she could fold her hands together and hold them up a bit.  
  
"Would you help me get our of here?" she asked, "I'd really love to see your island if it's ok with you."  
  
Riku almost sighed with relief that she wasn't going to, kiss him or anything, and smiled coolly. "Of course it's ok! And I want to get our of here too you know."  
  
"Friends then?" said Mariha, holding out one of her hands.  
  
"Friends," replied Riku, raising his hand as well and joined Mariha's to clap it into a handshake.  
  
~*~   
  
Sora hopped out of the gummi ship. He looked up at the giant rock formation. Simba, a beast who Sora could summon if he needed help, seemed to call to Sora as he stared at the rock, so he raised his Keyblade. He called froth Simba, and the great loin appeared as it always did Sora summoned him, only instead of fighting, he stood and spoke to all of them.  
  
"Thank you Sora," he said with a roaring voice, "Welcome to my home, welcome to the Pride Lands."  
  
"I get it!" Sora exclaimed after nodding to Simba, "After Kingdom Hearts was sealed, all the lost worlds re-appeared!"  
  
"That's right," said Simba, "And since I enjoyed your company after you set my spirit free and returned me home, it's only fair that I show you around."  
  
Simba then turned and led them up a path heading straight for the rock formation, Pride Rock.  
  
AN: Hee hee! First chappy done! Have you guessed what's mine yet? *fans shake their heads* o.O Mariha sillies! *fans sigh* ahh, never mind... and if you care her name's pronounced "Ma-rye-a" yea I know I spelt it weird but I'm special! *cheesy grin* *fans attempt to kill me* hey! Then who's going to finish the ficcy? *fans: we don't care about the ficcy!* ;_; Fine then! Just R&R.... 


	2. Dreams

AN: Well, now it's leaning more on Riku's side of the story *hugs Riku* *fans: but we want Sora!* well you can't have him *make a face* *fans: pull out a gun* o.O Ok never mind just continue... O and this one is a little shorter than the first one.  
  
Disclaimers: I still don't own anything except Mariha. *Mariha feels special* Well, i made her up, i don't really own her *Mariha: that's rigth! i own my own life ~.^*  
  
Dreams  
  
A six-year-old Riku was standing on the little island off the beach of Destiny Island, the one they came to everyday to play on. He was leaning against the paopu tree and someone was sitting down beside him. It wasn't Sora or Kairi, and it defiantly was not Wakka, Tidus, or Selphie.  
  
"Isn't the sun set beautiful," said the person beside him, "Some day, we'll get off this island and have a real adventure."  
  
Riku nodded.  
  
"Riku, why do you always compete with Sora for everything?"  
  
"Because it's fun beating him," he replied with a smile, "Sides, it gives me something to do. I mean, I like this island and it will always be my home but, sometimes it seems like a prison."  
  
"I know what you mean." The person stood up and walked to the edge of the mini island. Riku guessed that they were around his age, and he noticed that the person was a little shorter than he was.  
  
"Riku, you've been the bestest friend I could of ever imagined. Thank you."  
  
The person turned to face him but Riku couldn't see their face because of the sun in his eyes; they were standing right in front of it. Suddenly, a giant wave came up and washed both Riku and the person of the little island into the water.  
  
Riku opened his eyes under water and looked around for his friend. There! Slowly sinking down deeper and deeper. Riku tired to swim down but the current pushed him to the surface. But just before his broke out above the water, he saw eyes, full of terror, then darkness...  
  
"No!" Riku woke with a start. He got up and looked around him.  
  
Still here, it was all a dream, he thought.  
  
"Riku!" Mariha came running over to him, "I heard you shout. Are you alright?"  
  
"Yeah, it was just a dream," he replied.  
  
Dream, he thought, who was in my dream?  
  
"Oh, ok," said Mariha, "Anyways, check out what I found!"  
  
She held out a sparkling clear crystal the size of a fist but in the shape of a diamond. Riku took a closer look as she handed it to him. It was warm in his hand and he noticed that the centre was glowing dimly.  
  
"It has a strong magic within. I think it might help to get us out of here," she said excitedly, clapping her hands together.  
  
"Magic?" said Riku, puzzled, "But how do you know?"  
  
Mariha hit her forehead with her hand. "Oops! I totally forgot to tell you," she said, "I can use magic! I taught myself how to use it since there was really nothing else to do, but it has come in handy!"  
  
She smiled cheerfully. Riku had never seen someone so energetic and cheerful, not even Selphie, a girl that hung out with them on the island sometimes was as cheery as Mariha was. Did hid presence, the presence of another person really lift her hopes sky high?  
  
"Ok, so how is this thing supposed to help us?" asked Riku holding up the crystal. He couldn't see how this shiny little piece of rock could help them at all in escaping Kingdom Hearts, their prison in darkness.  
  
"If I'm correct, which I almost always am, this is a Tela Crystal. Combined with my magic, we'll be able to teleport out of here!" she replied.  
  
"I see," said Riku handing the Tela Crystal back to Mariha, "Are there anymore?"  
  
Mariha shook her head, "Not that I could find, they seem pretty rare," she said, "But I think one should be enough."  
  
"Great!" exclaimed Riku, hopes flying, "So when can we go? Now?"  
  
Mariha's smile vanished, "Even with the Tela Crystal, I'M not strong enough yet to teleport ONE person let alone two. It'll take me weeks to prepare, and even then, I don't know how far it is to the outside worlds so I don't know how much power I'll need exactly."  
  
Riku sighed. Now he wondered if they'd ever get out of here. But Mariha's glumness was quickly replaced with cheerfulness again as she hopped down and got right into Riku's face as he was still sitting on the ground. He blushed. The same uncomfortable feeling came over him again but he couldn't move an inch. He seemed to be frozen in place, just as he had the day before.  
  
"But don't worry!" she said, smiling warmly at him, "at least it's a start!"  
  
They looked into each other's eyes as Mariha held her smile. She has a beautiful smile, thought Riku then almost shook his head, as he realized what he was saying to himself, No, what are you doing! Then, as if sensing his discomfort, or something like it, Mariha got up and skipped away yelling back over her shoulder: "I'll see you later! I have to check something right now!"  
  
Riku just sat there for another moment. Every time she did that, got that close to him, he got that feeling of discomfort. But it was Mariha! She was so easy to be around! Why was it that when she got just a little bit nearer he would go all crazy?  
  
O well, he thought, we both seem to be the best thing that ever happened to each other in this place. At least she's good company.  
  
He smiled to himself, sure Mariha was kind of goofy, but he was somewhat amused by it and enjoyed her company nonetheless. He yawned, then with some effort, got up and decided to do some exploring.  
  
~*~  
  
Simba walked into the cave at the top of Pride Rock with Sora, Donald, and Goofy following behind.  
  
"Simba!" said a beautiful lioness as she trotted up to Simba, "You've returned!"  
  
The lioness came right over to Simba and they nuzzled noses. Sora guessed that the lioness had to be Simba's mate. He smiled and thought about Kairi.  
  
"I'd have never gotten here if it weren't for Sora." He moved aside so the lioness could get a look at the visitors properly.   
  
"Welcome Sora," she said, "My name is Nala. Please come in, I'm sure you have lots to talk about."  
  
Sora followed Nala and Simba into the cave, and Donald and Goofy weren't far behind.  
  
~*~  
  
Riku walked through the darkness of Kingdom Hearts, passing many strange formations of what seemed to be like a toadstool of darkness. There was no sun, moon or stars in the sky, just the ever going black abyss and the only form of light that enabled Riku to see where he was going were little slits of a glowing blue essence that were on the black toadstools. Riku didn't dare ever touch one, but they were everywhere. But, the more the merrier since it created all only light in the black hole they were trapped in.  
  
Sometimes Riku wondered why it was there, the glowing blue light. It wasn't that bright, but it was still there. Wasn't Kingdom Hearts supposed to be complete darkness? It was the home of the heartless; they themselves were also pure darkness. So why would there be even a little bit of light? Riku figured it couldn't be real light, maybe an energy this world needed that just so happened to glow. After all, the eyes of the heartless glowed as well, and in a dark ally, that would be all you would see of them, their eerie glowing yellow eyes.  
  
He continued to walk, not really going in a certain direction but making sure he would remember the way back, slashing away the odd shadow heartless that dared challenge him with his blade; it was a razor sharp blade shaped like a bat wing. It was the only thing he had, even though he had received it from the darkness, but using it against the darkness settled any guilt he had in using it.  
  
Soon, Riku came to a sort of forest of the black and glowing toadstools, only there stems rose higher up, over his head to make the appearance of warped trees. He walked in, following a path that seemed to lead into the centre of the forest. In a small clearing at the end of the path, there was a perfectly circle jet black rock with a pretty much flat top. It was rounded like a sphere at the bottom and the top was about 2 feet up off the ground. Overall, it looked like half a sphere that had fallen from the sky and stayed there.   
  
Sitting in the very centre on the top of the black sphere was Mariha. Her back was to Riku and she was fiddling with something in her hands. Riku couldn't see what it was but he didn't think anything of it.  
  
"So this is where you ran off to," he said coolly. Mariha jumped, not noticing he was there until now but she turned and grinned.   
  
"Ah! You've found me," she laughed, "I guess this isn't a secret hiding spot anymore."  
  
Riku climbed up onto the rock to sit beside Mariha, "What were you doing?"  
  
"O, nothing," replied Mariha quickly, stuffing something into her pocket. Before Riku could ask anything else Mariha jumped off the rock, drew her sword and pointed it at Riku.  
  
"Ever since you got here, I've been wondering," she smiled slyly and it startled Riku for a moment. The brightness in her eyes disappeared and was replaced with an almost evil glare, "Wondering if I am as good as I think I am. Come on Riku! Lets have a fight! I need to measure out my skills with someone worthy."  
  
Riku sat on the stone in surprise but then sighed.  
  
"You don't know who you're messing with," he said, jumping down and gripping his own weapon with the blade of a bat wing. He put on his game face and looked at Mariha strait in the eye. Not a shred of fear was within them.  
  
"Lets see what you got!" called Mariha challengingly. She charged, sword tip aimed right at Riku's heart. He blocked the assault easily and she jumped back.  
  
"You'll have to do WAY better then that to even come close to beating me," Riku said, confidence once again brimming in his eyes as they had when he would fight Sora back on their island.  
  
Riku lunged and with great speed and strength, brought his weapon done onto Mariha. His speed was matched though, as she blocked then tossed his aside. Riku was surprised at Mariha's reflexes and strength but all she did was shoot him a threatening glace and the real party started. They went at it like no tomorrow; blocking, attacking, receiving blows on both sides though they were always matched. It was almost too even.  
  
Once, Riku had her down and he relaxed for a second, bad idea. Mariha saw the opportunity to turn the tables and did. She jumped up so quickly, Riku though she had disappeared for a second. She backed him up against the half sphere rock, her sword at his throat.  
  
"Am I doing better now 'O Great One?'" she panted, dark eyes unblinking.  
  
Riku couldn't do anything but stare. Her eyes, they gave him a brief vision of his own, himself, hungry for darkness and power. It clouded his mind now. He lost all sense of where he was, for he was lost within his own mind, as it mocked him. He kept seeing the images flash by. His island, the heartless, Sora... Kairi... Ansem. The evil being, Ansem, who had manipulated him and took him over to the darkness, promising power. Instead he got grief, pain and despair. Now, the darkness was growing, consuming him once more. He couldn't escape. He couldn't fight it.  
  
"Stop!" he said as he fell to his knees, eyes wide though he only saw the darkness through them, "Stop it!"  
  
He suddenly felt something around him, but it wasn't the darkness.  
  
"Riku? Riku, what's wrong?" It was Mariha. She was shaking him a bit, trying to bring him to his senses.  
  
"Riku, wake up!"  
  
He looked up. The evil thing in Mariha's eyes was gone. She looked at him, eyes now full of concern.  
  
"Hey, are you awake?" she said again as Riku realized that he was staring at her, which could easily be mistaken for him being lost still.  
  
All, his senses were clear he grabbed Mariha's shoulders which caused her to jump in surprise.  
  
"Mariha," he started, but he couldn't say anything more.  
  
"Are you alright?" she said, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so aggressive..."  
  
Riku still said nothing. He was awake, and aware, but he was still in shock. He couldn't believe his eyes. A second ago, Mariha looked like she was actually going to kill him. It looked like she had been controlled by the darkness or something and it sent her out to kill him. He knew it was ridicules but still, that look in her eye shouldn't have been there.  
  
He stood up, he was in a form of panic, and his head was hammering so many theories, so many questions onto him. He couldn't stand it. He needed to get away.   
  
"Riku? What are you -?"  
  
He ran. He didn't let her finish. He ran as fast as he could, blindly through the warped forest. He heard her call, Riku heard Mariha call out to him and he knew she was confused. I don't understand it either, he though but he didn't stop running.  
  
Finally, when his legs would not carry him any further, he collapsed and leaded his back against one of the tree like toadstools. He was so confused. What am I doing, he thought in frustration, why am I running? Why am I running from a friend? She couldn't have been darkness. No, she accepted me as a friend even after I - he stopped short, more frustration toward himself arising, I didn't tell you...  
  
Mariha was in total puzzlement. Riku looked at her like she was some sort of evil monster. Why did he run? What caused him to be stricken down with that fear she saw in his foggy eyes? At first she though it was her mind playing tricks on her, showing him staring blankly into nothingness. But it was real, though she didn't understand why. His face turned pale despite his already pale skin.  
  
What had she done to cause Riku this fear? So many questions she wanted to ask, but Riku had run. He had run from her and she dared not follow. He saw something, he must have, that made him flee. Something really horrible...  
  
Her mind was made up. She was going to look for him. She couldn't just leave him out there on his own. Sure he could take care of himself, but could he do it if his mind was confused? She had to straighten this out, she put her sword into it sheath, and then started out in the direction she saw Riku run.  
  
Riku was here again, back on his island. It was that same dream. Leaning on the paupo tree looking out at the setting sun. The other person was there at his side, just like last time.  
  
"Isn't the sun set beautiful?"  
  
His dream must have become clearer, he could tell now without a doubt that the voice belonged to a girl. He looked down to see the girls face, but it was a fog in his mind. Fine then, he thought to himself, take your time, keep me guessing.  
  
"Some day we'll get off this island and have a real adventure."  
  
Without thinking Riku nodded. He surprised himself. Even though this dream was exactly the same as the first, he seemed to almost forget what was going to happen next until it was already upon him, and he reacted automatically.  
  
"Riku, why do you always compete with Sora?"  
  
Riku opened his mouth to reply then stopped short. What would happen if he changed the dream by doing something different?  
  
"Riku?" He didn't look at her but some how he felt the girl's eyes on him. His stream of thought broke.  
  
"O sorry," he said, "I was just thinking."  
  
"Well that's new," joked the girl with a laugh.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" he replied.  
  
"O nothing," she said and got up and walked over to the edge of the mini island they were on, "I've been thinking too lately."  
  
He knew what was going to happen.  
  
"Riku, thank you, you've been the bestest friend I could have ever imagined. I'll never forget you, please don't forget me."  
  
Right on cue, she turned as the giant wave sprung into the air. He still couldn't make out her face, but he could see now, that she had short brown hair that was wavy and went down to about the middle of her neck. Something sparkled around her neck but Riku took no notice. He was running to her, trying to grab her hand before the wave came crashing down.  
  
He reached out and grabbed but just missed as the wave swept them into the water. He saw it again, though he didn't want to, but he couldn't stop himself from looking. Terror stricken eyes; darkness...   
  
Riku woke with a start. He hadn't realized that he had fallen asleep, and had no idea how long he had been sleeping for, but where was Mariha? Was she looking for him? His head was now cleared, he knew it was only the darkness playing with him, trying to manipulate again as it had done in the past. He knew what to do now he needed to find Mariha.  
  
He got up and his thoughts were answered when he heard a scream. Mariha! He darted toward the sound. Not far, he spotted Mariha in a tangle of vines. He relaxed but suddenly became aware that the vines were moving, trying to strangle Mariha who was caught in them. The think black vines wrapped around her from her toes to her waist, but they were quickly wrapping itself higher and higher. On the tip of the vine holding her, the tip that was growing up toward her head, had a little head along with a mouth filled with skinny needle like teeth. It was a type of heartless.  
  
Riku grabbed his sword and begun cutting away at the vines of the heartless that started creeping toward him. They came at him and no matter how many he cut, more and more kept coming. Riku gave up trying to defeat the heartless this way and jumped over them to make his way over to where Mariha was trapped.  
  
Then, the vine holding her captive rose up, out of reach from Riku. It's head momentarily stopped its climb to Mariha's head to turn and shoot Riku a mocking smile, showing all of it's skinny pointed teeth.  
  
"Riku..." Mariha said in a faint voice. The vines were squeezing her so hard she was having difficulty breathing. The heartless' head was now creeping around her shoulders, readying it's teeth for the treat it was about to get.  
  
Riku ran under Mariha who was being held in the air by the heartless and tried to jump and cut it. But it just rose higher. Riku then looked to his side. That's it! He was looking at the core, a large round bud that was glowing slightly. That was what gave the heartless its energy. He needed to destroy that. Riku lunged for it; the heartless was now at Mariha's chin, opening its mouth wide.  
  
Riku extended his arm to cut the core in half when a smaller vine whipped at his unprotected arm. He grunted in pain as the cut began to bleed.  
  
Riku, she though, eyes staring to flutter close, she was running out of air the heartless was squeezing her so hard. She was helplessly captured. She couldn't help him. Powerless; she hated that. She was totally powerless to save herself, or Riku.  
  
Ignoring the sting of the blow, Riku continued to charge until his sword came down on the core and cut it in two. The heartless around Mariha seemed to scream and wilted into nothingness. She fell into his awaiting arms as he struggled to keep them both standing. He sat himself down slowly against a toadstool tree, still holing on to Mariha who didn't seem to have the energy to stand on her own.  
  
The lack of air had forced her unconscious, but when her eyes shot open, she was gasping for air.  
  
"Wha -" she began and looked up to see Riku's face above her, "Oh!" She sat up frantically.  
  
"Are you ok?" Riku asked.  
  
Mariha nodded. Riku sighed in relief and relaxed. He leaned back further against the tree behind him and closed his eyes.  
  
"Mariha," he began, "I'm sorry I ran. I just was, confused for a second. I didn't mean to bolt away like that."  
  
He opened his eyes to await her response.  
  
"I'm the one who should be sorry," she said, "I should have never asked you to fight..."  
  
"Hey," he said smiling at her, "Don't worry about it, k?"  
  
"I'm sorry," she said.  
  
"I'm sorry too," he replied and she smiled back at him.  
  
AN: Well, there is! Chapter 2 now finished! *Dances the 'Chapter 2 is finally finished' dance* hee hee, as you can see, I'm not bothering with any cliffhanger ending at the moment. It's all pretty boring right now... but if you care enough to stick around, it gets better! Please R&R! (If u don't, I might not continue with the story! *fans cheer* o.O ok never mind then, I'll finish it weather u review or not! *fans groan* ^-^ 


	3. Dark Memories

AN: Okey dokey! Third chapter is up NOW! ~.^ Ain't ya proud of me? *fans: -_- no* ;_; fine, just read the chapter.... *mumbles bout... stuff!* =^.^= MEOW! Kawai lil' neko! *fans: o.O that guns looking very friendly right now...* *sweatdrops* ok I'll get to the chapter already...  
  
Disclaimers: Man, I feel like such a loser every time I put this up to say I don't own anything... *fans: that's cuz u ARE a loser!* Hey! I've got Mariha don't I? *hugs Mariha*  
  
Dark Memories  
  
"Ah, so your looking for your friends," said Nala after Sora had told her his situation, "I wish we could help you look, but the hyenas have taken over most of the Pride Lands. They seem to come in endless numbers so we can't fight them off."  
  
"What!" roared Simba in fury; it was plain to see that he had something against the hyenas.  
  
"Yes," continued Nala in a sorrowful voice, "It happened right after out world was 're-born'. Simba, you weren't here to lead us so the hyenas saw the opportunity and too over. They're everywhere; the only place they leave alone is here. We sometimes get lucky and catch a bit of food before they find us..."  
  
Simba paced back and forth in deep though. "Ahh! How could this happen," he said to himself. He stopped pacing to stand right in front of Sora.  
  
"Sora, I know this is a big favour to ask, but I can't get rid of all the hyenas with just me and the lionesses."  
  
"No problem!" replied Sora confidently, "After the hyenas are gone, it'll be easier to look for Riku."  
  
Sora grinned. "It's a two in one!"  
  
Simba nodded, "Thank you so much Sora, you've helped med so much already. When this is all done, I'd be happy to show you around and help you look."  
  
"Then it's settled! We'll leave in the morning," said Nala.  
  
"Wait a second," said Simba sternly, "It's far to dangerous, you have to stay here and protect the others."  
  
"Danger?" said Nala, "I laugh in the face of danger, ha ha ha!"  
  
Simba just looked at her, not showing any sign of giving in.  
  
"Aww come on!" she complained, "I'm tougher that that! Let me help you; this is my home too."  
  
"Someone needs to stay here to make sure the rest of the pack is safe," said Simba, "Sora and I will be fine. I'll call you and the others if we need you."  
  
They gazed into each other's eyes, both trying to stare down the other. Simba was too good. Finally, Nala gave in.  
  
"Ok, you win," she said, "But save us a little bit of action too."  
  
Both Simba and Nala smiled and they nuzzled noses. Then, Simba turned to Sora.  
  
"Be ready to go in the morning," he said, "For now, get rested up. Those hyenas are tougher than they appear to be."  
  
~*~  
  
Riku had no idea how long they sat there, too worn out to move, but it couldn't have been too long because the cut on his arm began to hurt. More of a needles sting at first, then the pain came rushing to his head. He groaned and Mariha turned to see what was the matter.  
  
"Huh? What's wrong?" she asked then noticed blood dripping from Riku's arm, "You're hurt!"  
  
"It's nothing, just a scra -" he flinched as the cut sent another great pang of pain to his head.  
  
"Hold still," she said and pulled out a white handkerchief from her pocket. She tried to wipe away most of the blood with her hand, hoping to keep the cloth as clean as possible before wrapping it around his arm to create a bandage. His gash was deep. It was the length of his hand in between his wrist and elbow, slightly angled so that if another one were opposite it, it would create an X.   
  
Riku gritted his teeth as Mariha carefully tied the handkerchief around his arm. "There, all bandaged up," she said, "I wish I had something to ease the pain though."   
  
Riku raised his arm to examine his bandage more closely. One end of it already was starting to go red from his blood. "Nah, this is fine," he said.  
  
"This is all my fault!" she said in frustration, "If I hadn't -"   
  
"Hey," said Riku to cut her off, "I said don't worry about it. Trust me, I've had worse, and I'll live right?"  
  
Mariha sighed and opened her mouth to say something more but Riku kept talking.  
  
"Come on! No point in fussing over the past. What's happened happened. No one can change that."  
  
Mariha smiled but his own words surprised him. That's defiantly not how he's been thinking or acting lately. Blaming himself for causing so much trouble. Sure it was true, but he needed to let it go and accept it. He then smiled at himself; he had taught himself a good lesson thanks to Mariha.  
  
"Riku," said Mariha getting up, "I think we should get out of here. Can you walk?"  
  
"I think so," Riku replied, getting up slowly with a little help from Mariha. They made their way back to where they had first met which they had made into a little camp before. Mickey had brought, or found, Riku couldn't tell which, blankets for sleeping. He had come awfully prepared to spend a long time in this accursed place.  
  
After they had settled down at their camp, Mariha brought over some fragments of that blue glowing stuff Riku had seen earlier. She piled them in a little circle then drew her sword and pointed the tip at it.  
  
"Fire!" she called and a little fire ball shot from her sword and the flame easily caught to the glowing... things.  
  
"Hey, what is that stuff anyways?" asked Riku.  
  
"Really, I have no idea," Mariha replied truthfully, "One day I was practicing my fire magic and I accidentally hit the stuff and it caught easily. It works just like fire wood an that's good with me!"  
  
"I see..."  
  
Riku lay on his blanket to rest as Mariha went skipping away somewhere saying she'd be back soon. Sure enough, five minutes later she came back with an armful of strange looking objects.  
  
"What's all that?" asked Riku, looking at the array of assorted items.  
  
"Something to feed us!" replied Mariha gleefully.  
  
She quickly got to work. She cast a blizzard spell to fill a bowl shaped object that looked kind of like a big upside down mushroom cap then put it over the fire. The ice in the cap melted quickly and it wasn't long until it began to boil. Mariha then continued by tossing the other things she had brought into the boiling water, sometimes breaking something that was too big to fit into several pieces.  
  
Finally, after stirring it around, Mariha poured some of the soup into smaller mushroom cups and handed one to Riku. He couldn't tell if it was really safe to drink or not, for everything floating in the dark broth weren't familiar to him. He took a sip anyway though, after all, Mariha was the one who made it, and she was drinking her own.  
  
He brought the cup to his lips and took a sip. A sweet and tangy flavor filled his mouth. It was so delicious! He took another sip, this one bigger than the first to make sure his taste buds weren't fooling him. It was just as mouth watering as before.  
  
"Wow!" he said, "This is really good! How'd you make it? What's in it?"  
  
"Well," started Mariha with a big smile, "When you're living out here for as long as I have, you figure out a couple things. I don't really remember how I found out they were eatable, maybe I was to hungry at the time to care, but it teased great, and I'm still alive so it can't be bad for you."  
  
She then gulped down the last bit of her soup and turned her back to him as she sat on her blanket; she was fiddling with something in her hands but Riku couldn't see what. He was about to ask but a wave of sleep camp over him. Half dazed, he drank the rest of the broth in his cup and fell over to fall asleep.  
  
Riku awoke to find Mariha asleep and huddled by the dying fire. He'd had another dream. He sat and thought, trying to recall it in his head. It was different from the first two he had.   
  
Riku was with the nameless girl but they were at the cove. He remembered that they were playing hide and seek. He was hiding in the bushes and could see her looking for him through the leaves. She searched and searched but couldn't find him. Finally, he came out and found her by the star marker, a tree with one big yellow star on top, curled up into a ball with her hands around her knees and head between them. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes but wiped them away quickly and ran to Riku.  
  
He remembered her telling him how she thought he had left her for good. He tried to remember what her face looked like. It was so clear in the dream, but now it was a blur.   
  
He sighed, disappointed in himself forgetting then smiled. She was so worried that he'd left her. If his dreams were really a vision of his past, then someone had really cared about him and would never want to leave him. But if that was so, then where were they now? And why was he having so much trouble remembering?  
  
Riku's stream of though was broken by a groan close to him. Mariha was waking up.  
  
"How'd you get up before me?" she said to Riku and yawned, "Better yet, why am I so tired?"  
  
Riku smiled as she yawned again. He guessed that she had stayed up watching over him until she couldn't keep her eyes open. But he didn't mention this to her.  
  
Mariha stretched and crawled over beside Riku. "How are you feeling?" she asked inspecting the bandage that was still on his arm.  
  
"Great," he replied, "How are you feeling?"  
  
Mariha looked up and smiled, "Never been better!" she yawned again, "Ok, so maybe I've been a bit better before, but other than that, I'm good to go!"  
  
Mariha stuffed her hand in her pocket and pulled something out. She then held it out blushing.  
  
"I made this for you," she said shyly, referring to the bracelet in her hands. Riku took it from her hand and looked at it closer.  
  
The band was woven out of what looked like dry grass. There was a small gem of some sort on it that was a pure lush green.  
  
"This is amazing," he said studying the intricate waving design, "You made this?"  
  
Mariha nodded, "Do you like it?"  
  
"Of course," he replied. He gave it to Mariha so she could tie it around his wrist.  
  
After finishing what was left of the mysterious soup, Riku persuaded Mariha that he was perfectly fine so he could take a little walk. He strolled along, making sure he'd remember the way back to their camp. Mariha went off into that strange forest clearing to power up her magic but the rock.  
  
During Riku's walk, he thought about Sora. He remembered all the things they used to compete for and how much fun they had together. Eventually, his memories drifted to when Sora had defeated Ansem, the evil that had tried to use the heartless for his own dark ways so he could rule all worlds. He remembered Sora as he tried to close the doors to this place, Kingdom Hearts. Then it hit him.  
  
Didn't Sora say that Kingdom Hearts was light? Didn't he say there was a light somewhere in here that would defeat the darkness for good? He thought, He did! So if we find the light, we'll be able to get out of here!  
  
He stopped his rejoice and realized the flaw in this plan. To get out, he'd have to release the light, but then also open the door. It was Sora's destiny to open the door to light since he wielded the Keyblade, and he had no way of contacting Sora from here.  
  
"So much for that," he said aloud. He was so close; after all, it was he that was really the true Keyblade master. It was really his destiny to wield it, but he chose the darkness instead so it gave itself to Sora instead.  
  
With a last disappointing thought of the destiny he could've taken, Riku trudged back to the camp. Mariha still wasn't back so Riku decided to practice his fighting skills. He started out great, but his attention drifted back to Sora. The last thing he had said to him had been: "Take care of her." He had referred to Kairi, a girl that he had fallen in love with back on his home of Destiny Islands. The only thing was, that Sora had loved her too.  
  
Now he couldn't help but think about Kairi. He had loved her, but Sora and her were destined to be together. Riku didn't really like the idea of that, but he didn't was to mess with destiny. Not this time.  
  
He gave up practicing and sat down by the burnt out fire. He stared at the smoldering ashes, his thoughts now on his strange dreams. He needed to find out who that girl was. He wanted so badly to remember a friend that had always been a part of him. Sure, Sora and Kairi were good friends of his, but in the dreams, this person made him feel, well, different. There was a stronger bond of friendship between them, one that he had never experienced before, or didn't remember experiencing anyway. He just wished that he could remember her face when he woke. He decided to try and sleep again, hoping that he could get more information if he dreamt of her again.  
  
Three days passed. Every day, Mariha would go out and strengthen her magic, and every night Riku would dream about the girl. He dreamt all sorts of things that they had done together. Hunting for treasure, exploring the cove and just having a good old fun time together. But every time he woke, he'd never remember her face. And to make the matter even more frustrating, he kept forgetting to ask her name too. One thing he did notice though, that no one else seemed to be in his dreams.  
  
Then, on the third night, Riku asked, out loud while Mariha wasn't there: Why is this person not with me any longer? That night, he got his answer.  
  
This time, Riku was in the cabin by the seashore with the girl and Sora. He smiled at the memory of his now 6-year-old buddy. It was raining outside.  
  
"I'm going to go up and see how bad it is," said the girl and she ran up the stairs that lead up to the door that opened up to the small wooden bridge connecting to the mini island. Riku was left with Sora.  
  
"Hey Sora, where's Kairi?" he asked.  
  
"Kairi?" he replied in confusion, "Who are you talking about? I don't know anyone named Kairi."  
  
Then Riku remembered that Kairi had moved to their island when she was six years old, same age as Riku now, and she was a year younger. She must not have moved to Destiny Islands yet.  
  
"Oh," he said, "I meant... um..."  
  
"Naomi?" finished Sora.  
  
Naomi! That's what her name is!  
  
"Geez," said Sora, "What's with you today? You're forgetting a lot of thing,"  
  
"Oh, I'm ok," said Riku, feeling rather stupid.   
  
"You can't tell me that you forgot that it's her birthday today too!" Sora added.   
  
Riku opened his mouth to reply but just then, Naomi came bounding down the stairs.  
  
"It's still pouring!" she exclaimed, "I don't think we'll be able to get back to the main island, we might have to spend the night here."  
  
Sora groaned.  
  
"Hey! We've done it before!" she said in reply to his groan.  
  
"Yeah, but - are you sure we can't just..."  
  
"No way!" Naomi cut off, "Last time this happened we barely made it home because our boats half sunk from all the rain filling them. Besides, the waves are rougher than before."  
  
"Aww," Sora complained, "But I'm hungry!"  
  
"You're always hungry," snapped Naomi, "But here are some coconuts that the wind blew off the trees."  
  
She tossed a coconut to Sora, then Riku, before cracking open her own. This was too weird. Somehow, Riku felt like this had all happened before a long time ago. But his memory was always a faded picture in his mind.  
  
He shrugged and ate his coconut. Sometime after, all three friends were laughing and joking as the storm raged on out side when Riku's dream suddenly changed. The three of them were on the dock, untying their little fishing boats. The wind was howling and she waves crashed into the shore violently. The rain was coming down in buckets and after only two seconds of standing in it, Riku was soaked thoroughly from head to toe.  
  
What am I doing! He kept thinking to himself: This is insane!  
  
But for some reason, he couldn't stop himself or the others from going out on to the rough waters. There were only two boat so Sora went in one and Riku and Naomi in the other. They all fought against the strong current in an effort to reach their home island of the many making up the Destiny Islands. Riku tried yelling over to Sora and even to Naomi, but the wind carried his voice away.  
  
All of a sudden, a huge wave reared and came crashing down, just missing the two tiny boats. But then, a second came and its mark was true, it completely destroyed Riku's boat and he and Naomi were flung into the water. When he came to the surface, Riku quickly spotted a piece of his boat beside him and hang on to it for dear life.  
  
"Sora! Naomi!" he shouted. At first he didn't hear anything but the howling wind and crashing waves. But then a faint call reached his ears.  
  
"Riku!" called Sora.  
  
"Over here!" Riku yelled back.  
  
Sora's boat was still in tact but it had a lot of water in it. Somehow it made its way over to Riku and Sora helped him in.  
  
"Where's Naomi?" said Riku, panting and coughing from all the water he had swallowed.  
  
"I don't know, I though she was with you!" replied Sora. Even though they were only a few inches away from each other, the wind made it hard to hear there own shouting voices. "Wait... over there!"  
  
Sora pointed out on the water. There, clinging to a piece of Riku's trashed boat was Naomi. Riku and Sora paddled frantically toward her.  
  
"Hold on! We're coming!" Riku yelled to her.  
  
"Riku!" he heard her call back.  
  
The waves began to toss the boat away from Naomi, wanting to claim her for itself, but they kept on paddling. Finally, when they were close enough, Riku held out his hand for Naomi to grab. She caught it.  
  
"Hold on, I've got you!" he said to her.  
  
"Don't let go!" she cried.  
  
"I won't," he said but he could feel his hand slipping.  
  
"Riku!"  
  
Their hands broke apart from each other's grasp.   
  
"No!" cried Riku. He tried reaching for her hand again but she began to sink under the water. I need to dive in, he though but something stopped him. He gazed into her terror filled eyes like he had done so many times before. He was too afraid. He couldn't do it.  
  
The moment of hesitation he took was to long. Naomi sank under water completely, never to re-surface. He was too late. He had let her down. He had killed her. He was frozen in shock, mind blank. A single tear ran down his cheek as a mocking voice laughed: 'There, you wanted to know why she'd not with you now.'  
  
But it was right, he had wanted to know, and now he did.  
  
"I did it..." he said in a whisper, "I left her to die. I killed her."  
  
AN: Dundundunduh! OoOo!! Scary! Well, that's the end of this chapter, I'll let my annoying Authors Notes stop here for now ~.^ you're lucky! *fans: yea, WuTeVa!* hey that's what I say! WuTeVa! There, ok please R&R! 


	4. Truth Revealed

AN: Yay! Next chapter is finally here! Wow, I'm a speed demon :P I've already made a new ficcy AND added a chapter to this one! Well, that's what I do seeing as there is nothing else to do in my currently deserted house XD  
  
Disclaimers: Yea, you know the drill, I don't own anything, not even Mariha really, I just 'supervise' her. *thinking: for some reasons I'm hearing fait laughter...*  
  
Truth Revealed  
  
"What Riku?" said Mariha as Riku woke suddenly.  
  
He began to sit up but realized that tears were in his eyes. He lay down and turned to wipe them away without Mariha seeing.  
  
"Nothing," he lied, "It was just a dream."  
  
"More like a nightmare," she said coming over to him from where she was watching on her blanket. Riku sat up but kept his back to her.  
  
"Are you sure you ok?" she asked and put a hand on his shoulder. Riku looked at Mariha's hand then looked up at her face. She had a worried look but when he looked at her she smiled a bit. He looked forward, Mariha still at his back, and stood up. Her hand fell from it's resting place on his shoulder.  
  
"I'm fine," he said firmly, "And even if I wasn't, I can handle it." He began to walk away.  
  
"Riku..." she said but Mariha didn't get up to follow.  
  
"I can take care of myself!"  
  
With that, Riku broke into a run. Mariha just sat there, watching him disappear from view. Why do you run? she though.  
  
He kept running blindly, head down, not really caring if he got lost. But, he tripped on something and fell forward. He didn't get back up. Tears came back to him. How long it had been since he last cried, so now he made up for all those unused tears.  
  
How could he do it? He just needed to hop in and grab her, the boat was right there. He could've saved her, he new he could've. But he didn't. What if that never happened, a part of him though, What if it was really just a dream?  
  
No, it was real. He knew it was. He could feel it. He knew that all those other dreams were real because of that feeling, and that same feeling was defiantly present during that one. He knew without a doubt, that night, he lost his best friend forever.  
  
"Running away again?"  
  
Riku sprang to his feet at the sudden sound of someone else's voice. He looked around him, but no one was there.  
  
"Afraid of your problems?"  
  
Riku looked harder. Nothing was here, but the voice seemed to come from all directions.  
  
"Running will get you no where."  
  
Then Riku realized it. The voice was coming from inside his head. It was his voice. He immediately knew who it was. It was the evil inside him speaking. Suddenly, as if it had sensed his understanding, a ghost-like image of him, Riku, appeared, wearing the clothing he had gotten when he joined the darkness.  
  
"Stop running," it said, now from the figure, not inside his mind.  
  
"You're not real," Riku said immediately.  
  
"Am I?"  
  
"What do you want?"  
  
The ghost smiled, an evil mocking grin, "For you to wake up!" it said, "For you to stop holding me back and set me free."  
  
"Never," spat Riku, "It's because of you that I'm here, that Sora and Kairi hate me."  
  
His own words startled him but they made the evil ghost smile even wider.  
  
"Ahh yes," it said, walking around Riku in circles, never loosing eye contact, "Kairi and Sora, I wonder what there doing right now, safe and sound together on their island."  
  
"Stop it," whispered Riku. He didn't need to hear this.  
  
"Yes," continued the ghost, ignoring Riku's comment, "I bet there living happily ever after, and it's all thanks to us."  
  
"Stop it," said Riku a little louder.  
  
"Know what?" said Riku's evil self, now glaring at him with his own sea green eyes, "It's thanks to me that you finally got off that accursed island. Thanks to me that you got Kairi. You would've won if you didn't hold me back at that last moment. You would've won Kairi and ruled all worlds!"  
  
"I said stop it!" Riku said.  
  
"But no," it continued, "Now, because you locked me away, were stuck in this place and Sora has Kairi. Don't deny it, I know you still love her. You should've kept me free and right now she would be with you, and you'd be back on your pathetic island. Now, join the darkness once again and we shall become all powerful! Come now, you need me."  
  
"Stop!" yelled Riku, he'd had enough of this, "I don't need you, I've never needed you, and I never will."  
  
The furious look on his counter parts face gave him a sense of triumph, so he continued.  
  
"It's always the same, try to bribe the clueless with promises of power. Well I've been there done that, and I sure as hell don't want to do it again," he said as the ghosts face seemed to flush red with anger, "So you might as well climb into that dark empty hole where you sad existence came from."  
  
The ghost looked like he was going to smack Riku right in the face, but used up all it's energy to stop itself. Riku smiled triumphantly, but it faded when the corner of the ghost's mouth twitched. It began to laugh, to itself at first, but it soon turned into a howling roar.  
  
"You foolish boy!" is cackled, "You will come back to the darkness, it is you destiny! I'm a part of you. I can see into your mind, into you fears."  
  
"You're lying," said Riku, though his confidence had shattered. The ghost only smiled.  
  
"Oh?" is said mockingly, "Then how would I know about Naomi?"  
  
Riku froze. Hardly daring to breath.  
  
"That's right, I know what you did," said the ghost, now the one brimming with triumph, "Out on the water, a storm, then a tragic loss."  
  
The came up behind Riku who stood completely still, every muscle tensed, and whispered into his ear, "You could have saved her if I where there to help you. But now, she's dead, and it's all you fault."  
  
Riku was completely stunned. He couldn't think straight. He couldn't move. And the worst part was, that it was true.  
  
"You sat back and watched as she screamed in terror for you to save her. And you did nothing. You watched as the water swallowed her up. After all, don't you like watching people suffer? You killed her, and you enjoyed it."  
  
"No..." cried Riku, his voice was all shaky, "That's not true..."  
  
"Murderer!"  
  
"No!" Riku fell to his knees and covered his ears with his hands. He didn't want to hear it. He couldn't stand it.  
  
"You did! Now, come to the darkness and be forgiven."  
  
Riku's choking sobs was the only sound made. Then, though had to tell at first, his coughing turned into laughter. "You think you can win me over by guilt? I am guilty, but I'll never join you. Keeps your weak darkness!"  
  
The ghost gave Riku a look of pity.  
  
"That's really too bad," it said, "Then if you won't join, she will."  
  
Riku's evil ghost laughed loudly and mockingly, the same laugh that taunted him in his dream. The ghost disappeared but the laughter still rung through Riku's head. He tensed again.  
  
"Mariha."  
  
Riku darted toward the camp, hoping that he wouldn't be too late. All he could do was hope that he was going in the right direction, tear streaks still staining his face.  
  
~*~  
  
Simba was right. The hyenas were stronger then they looked. Sora, Simba, Donald and Goofy were trying to get past a wall of hyenas so they could go into the Elephant Graveyard. There were almost through. One more left. It's charged at Sora who had his back turned.  
  
"Look out!"  
  
Simba took a swipe at the last hyena with one great and powerful paw and it fell to the ground.  
  
"Thanks," said Sora. Simba nodded, "Let's go."  
  
The gang walked toward the cave deep in the graveyard. It had been around three days, fighting off hyenas from different places. The canyon, grazing fields; all so the game would come back. Finally, Simba guessed that the evil of the world was coming from Simba's uncle, Scar's, old lair.  
  
"I'm ready for this," Sora said to himself as the others walked in before him.  
  
"Hurry up Sora!" yelled Donald.  
  
"Coming!" he called back and followed everyone in.  
  
~*~  
  
Mariha was stretching back at camp. Giving her stiff muscles something to do.  
  
"One, two. One, two," she counted as she stood, feet apart, and touched her toes with the opposite hand. I wonder why Riku was so upset, she thought and stretched her arms behind, then in front of her, He'll be alright, seems like he can take care of himself, like he said.  
  
Then, she heard something in the distance. She stopped her stretching and looked in the direction of the sound.  
  
"Mariha!" It was Riku and he was running toward her. She waved at him.  
  
"There you are!" she yelled to him, "I've been wondering where you -"  
  
Suddenly, something grabbed her from behind. It was the evil ghost of Riku.  
  
"Mariha!" yelled Riku again, getting closer.  
  
"Riku!" Mariha held out her hand as the evil being pulled her into a wall of darkness that appeared behind them.  
  
Riku was so close. He went to grab Mariha's hand. He was just about to grasp it when she was pulled back and vanished into the darkness. As she disappeared, he heard the faintest call for him.  
  
"Riku..."  
  
The black wall that looked more like a black hole disintegrated. He was too late, hey got her.  
  
"Damn!" he yelled in fury. He fell to his knees and punched the ground with his fist. He let them take her. He couldn't save her. Just like he couldn't save Naomi.  
  
"No," he said aloud. This time, he wouldn't give up on a friend like he had so many times before. No, he was going to find Mariha, and bring her back.  
  
When Mariha woke her head ached.  
  
"Oww," she said putting a hand on her head, "Feels like I got run over or something..."  
  
She rubbed her aching head. Then, she looked around her. She was in darkness. There didn't seem to be any walls, any roof, any floor just endless black darkness. She began to remember what had happened to her. She remembered seeing Riku run to her then, she blacked out. She looked around again. She didn't know where she was, but she wasn't afraid, she was never afraid.  
  
"I hope Riku's ok," she said to herself, not knowing exactly what to do in this endless abyss.   
  
"No you don't," said a voice causing Mariha to jump to her feet.  
  
"Huh?" Mariha looked around but saw nothing, "Who's there?"  
  
"You should know," the voice said and out of the darkness stepped Riku. Even though the darkness was surrounding them, Mariha could see him as plain as day. And it was Riku, she was sure of it, but he was wearing strange clothes.  
  
"Riku?" she said, astonished and surprised.  
  
Riku smiled. "Yes, it's me."  
  
"Riku, where are we?" asked Mariha. Then something caught the corner of her eye. There, he was wearing the symbol of the heartless, a heart shape with a red thorny X through its blackness.   
  
Mariha glared at Riku and he smiled slyly.  
  
"You're not Riku!" she shouted at him, drawing her glistening sword and pointing it to his chest, "You're a heartless! What'd you do with the real Riku?"  
  
He just laughed. "What do you mean?" he said, "I am the real Riku."  
  
"No you're not!" shot back Mariha, "Riku would never wear the crest of the heartless."  
  
She gripped her sword tight and raised it to point at his throat.  
  
"Put that away," Riku said and her sword was wrenched from her hand by some invisible force. It hovered just out of her reached and she watched in horror as it shattered into a million pieces before her eyes, until it was noting but tiny sparkling shards of metal.  
  
Riku walked up, closer to Mariha before she recovered from her surprise. He brought his face right up to hers.  
  
"Now, look me in the eye," he said, "And then tell me that I'm not Riku."  
  
Mariha stared into them. He was so close, she felt like she had plunged into the sea itself. But deep within them, if have her that feeling she got whenever she looked into Riku's mystifying eyes. This person was indeed Riku.  
  
"No," she said in a shaky voice, she didn't want it to be true, "It's can't be."  
  
Riku chuckled, "See, I'm no liar."  
  
"Then why have you brought me here?" asked Mariha, trying to keep her voice steady.  
  
Riku leaned closer to her and she could move away. It was as if her feet had been glued to the unseen floor.  
  
"To show you what I really am," he whispered into her ear.  
  
Mariha pushed him away.  
  
"What do you mean?" she demanded, "Why couldn't you have just told me at the camp? No one else is trapped like us if you hadn't noticed."  
  
"Because," replied Riku, "He would try and stop me."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"The other me," answered Riku, "The one that you have become friends with."  
  
"Why would he try and stop you?" Mariha asked with a puzzled expression.  
  
"Because he's trying to confuse you," Riku explained, "He's trying to earn your trust, then he'll turn on you."  
  
"Come on! Riku wouldn't do that."  
  
"How do you know," said Riku, "How would you know if he'd been tricking you all this time?"  
  
"I don't believe you," replied Mariha simply.  
  
There was a pause then Riku jumped at her and grabbed her shoulders.  
  
"You will believe, once I've shown you what he's done," he said, eyes burning, "Once you understand how much evil really is in him."  
  
Mariha kept a straight face, "You're mad. And how do I know that you're not the one lying?"  
  
"You won't," replied Riku, "Until you ask him yourself."  
  
Suddenly, the darkness and Riku vanished. Mariha found herself standing on an island in the middle of the night.  
  
"Where am I?" she said.  
  
"Just watch," came the voice of Riku, though he was nowhere to be seen, "I'm giving you a vision of what happened before you met him."  
  
Then Mariha saw a boy run across a wooden bridge. Shocked, Mariha saw that the boy was running toward Riku.  
  
"Riku!" he called.  
  
"The door has opened..." Riku said quietly, his back to the boy.  
  
"What?"  
  
"The door has opened Sora!" said Riku louder, "Now we can go to other worlds. Once we step through, we may not be able to come back. We may never see our parents again. But we can't let fear stop us! I'm not afraid of the darkness!" He turned to face the boy.  
  
"What are you talking about!" cried the other boy, "We have to find Kairi!"  
  
"Kairi's coming with us!" snapped Riku. Then, he held out his hand for the boy to take, but he hesitated.  
  
"Riku..." he said. But darkness began to swallow up Riku. The boy went for his hand but saw his feet being engulfed as well. He reached, but Riku disappeared into the dark before he could catch his hand.  
  
Then the scene changed. Mariha was now on a boat of some sort, no, it was a pirate ship! Riku and a tall woman robed in black were standing in the Captain's cabin. The woman was holding a staff with a green orb on the top. It was no doubt that she was a witch.  
  
"Now my boy," she said in a high crackling voice, "I have you a great gift. The gift to control the heartless!"  
  
A green essence flowed around Riku.  
  
No! Mariha screamed in her head, No, how could you! She was frozen with shock but somehow managed to follow them outside onto the deck.  
  
There, surrounded by pirates was the boy Riku had called Sora.  
  
"Riku, don't be a fool!" he yelled, "The darkness will eat away at your heart!"  
  
"Silence!" commanded Riku. He was wearing those clothes with the crest of the heartless upon them, "My heart is too strong. But I've learned some new tricks since we last met."  
  
Mariha didn't want to watch. How could he, Riku, how could he have come to join the darkness and even have control over the accursed heartless she resented so. But her eyes were kept open; he was making her watch. Riku raised his hand in the air and up popped a shadow heartless, only that this one looked exactly like Sora only it was completely black and had to glowing yellow eyes.  
  
Finally, Mariha found herself back with Riku in the darkness.  
  
That -that couldn't have happened," she said though she didn't believe the words herself.  
  
"You know it did."  
  
"Who was that boy Sora anyway?" she asked, hoping that it was all just a misunderstanding.  
  
"That was Riku's best friend, from Destiny Islands."  
  
"No! I can't be..." said Mariha now clutching her throbbing head. This was too much for her to take in all at once. She couldn't stand it.  
  
"You still don't believe? Then maybe you haven't seen enough."  
  
Mariha had seen enough. She had seen too much. She didn't want to see anything else but before she could stop him, she was in another vision.  
  
She was in a great hall. On a platform, she could see Riku and Sora in front of a giant symbol of the heartless, minus the X, that had swirls of multi-colours shifting within it. It was almost hypnotizing but her attention was forced onto the to boys, no doubt by Riku again.  
  
Riku was holding a big Key thing, much like the on Sora was carrying, only this one was black and blood red with a dangerously sharp needle point on the end. Riku pointed it to Sora and something flashed on his chest. He fell to his knees and grunted in pain.  
  
"Don't you see?" said Riku, coming closer to him, "The princesses heart is responding."  
  
"Kairi... Kairi's inside of me?" Sora panted clutching his chest.  
  
"I need that heart to open the door to darkness, so I may rule all worlds!" Riku's words stung Mariha's ears and she covered them, trying to block it out. But they were already etched into her mind.  
  
Mariha watched in horror again as Riku brought up his dark weapon and brought it down onto Sora. But before Mariha could see the outcome, she was back in the darkness. She was on her knees, hands still clutched to her head and she was shaking all over. Her face was sweaty and pale, her eyes blank.   
  
"I'm sorry," Riku said to break the uncomfortable silence, waking Mariha up into awareness again, "But you need to know the truth."  
  
She didn't know what to do. The only person she had ever become friends with was a crazed darkness loving heartless controller. It was so hard to believe when she thought she knew him so well.  
  
"I -I can't b-believe that's true," she said weakly, still shaking, "How can it be?"  
  
"Well," started Riku casually, "Have you ever noticed that your so called 'friend' failed to tell this all to you? There's a reason for that of course, that he didn't want to lose you trust."  
  
Mariha closed her eyes. He was right. Riku never did tell her these things. So was it all just a lie? Was everything he said a lie?  
  
"What should I do?" she said, to no one really but Riku answered her anyway.  
  
"Come with me," he said and smiled, "I'll help you."  
  
He stood over Mariha, holding out his hand for her to take. She hesitated for a moment, then anger arose toward the Riku she had though she hand known. She took his hand.  
  
"Mariha!" he called, "Mariha where are you?"  
  
Riku ran through that forest where Mariha went everyday. He knew she wasn't there but some instinct told him to call out anyway.  
  
Suddenly, the ground began to shake. Huh? What's going on, thought Riku. Then he saw it. A big castle had lifted from its foundation and was now floating through the black sky. But where had it come from? Surly he would have noticed it before. But it didn't matter right now.  
  
"I'll bet Mariha's in there," he said and ran toward it.  
  
What's with the evil villains always having a big castle to hide out in anyway? He though.  
  
AN: Aww! I'm so evil! Heh heh, but now we're finally getting into some sort of plot... no not really but don't fret! I've already got this all written down in my note book and I just need to type it all out. It's gets better, I promise =^.^= R&R! 


	5. Forgive and Forget

AN: Wow, another 2 chapters in a day! There's a bit more violence in this chapter. I might need to up the rating to PG-13. But, I think there's a bit more with Sora in this chappy too.... although I could be wrong, me and my short attention span *wanders away to buy some ice cream*  
  
Disclaimers: Guess what?! No not that! I get to own something else! ^-^ *Mariha: but u said you don't really own me!* Quiet u! But I don't own anything else... as usual...  
  
Forgive and Forget  
  
Riku lead Mariha out of the darkness. They stepped on to a smooth rock surface that looked like it was really a polished marble floor. The section where they stood broke off from its cliff edge and began floating toward a castle that seemed to have lifted into the air. The little moving platform on which Mariha and Riku stood darted for the castles gates then stopped. The doors opened and Mariha followed Riku inside.  
  
Riku lead Mariha up one winding staircase after another. It kept leading up and up. They climbed and climbed until Mariha thought they'd walk right into the sky. Finally, they reached a pair of large elegant looking double doors.  
  
"Open it," said Riku to Mariha. She obeyed. She pushed against the heavy doors until one swung open to let them through.  
  
Inside was a large room. There was somewhat of a hall that led to two staircases. The stairs lead towards the middle where a platform balcony thing was. It was the place from her vision. Where Riku had tried to take Sora's heart. The only thing that was different was that instead of the giant heartless symbol filled with the swirling colours, there was what seemed to be a mist of the colours clumped in the middle of the floor above.  
  
Riku had seen Mariha and his evil-self walk on to a rock that floated to the castle gates. He watched it from a cliff top on the other side of the castle, but he didn't think they saw him. The high place on which he stood was level with the castle grounds. When it drifted by, he made a running jump on to it. He just barely made it, grabbing onto the very edge of the ground the castle brought with it into the air. He hauled himself up and ran to the entrance.  
  
After going through the main doors, he followed many spinning staircases up. Finally, he reached the top to find two great doors. One had been opened so he guessed that this was the right place. He walked through it and entered a room that looked shockingly familiar. It looked just like the Grand Hall back in Hollow Bastion! He spotted Mariha and his counter part walking up the stairs ahead, then to a mist of swirling colour. He also noticed that the giant door in the shape of a heartless symbol wasn't on the back wall as he had remembered it. It was just a blank wall.  
  
"Mariha!" he called and ran to the foot of the stairs, looking up to where Mariha was.  
  
"Riku," she said looking down at him and began to smile. But then, her face saddened as if remembering something tragic and she looked to the ground.  
  
"Come on!" said Riku, "We've got to get out of here!"  
  
"I'm not going," said Mariha in a whisper.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'm not going!" she said again looking over at him. There was anger in her voice are Riku could see a fire burning in her normally kind eyes.  
  
"You have to!" Riku pleaded, "You need to get away from him!" He pointed to the evil being who now stood beside Mariha.  
  
"No," said Mariha firmly, "I need to get away from you! You lied to me! Everything was a lie!"  
  
"What are you talking about?" replied Riku.  
  
"So you deny that you betrayed you friend Sora, joined the darkness and attempted to steal his heart so you could rule worlds?" demanded Mariha, "I've now seen the truth! My eyes are open to see you for what you really are! And you tried to throw a blanket over my eye."  
  
"Mariha..."  
  
"So did you do all I just said or not!" yelled Mariha, furious.   
  
"I... I did," said Riku softly and looked away in shame.  
  
"I knew it!" screamed Mariha, "And the worst part is that I bought your lies and... ahh! I can't believe I actually considered you as my friend!"  
  
"Wait Mariha," begged Riku, "It's not like that! I do regret the things I've done in the past, but right now we have to get out of here!"  
  
"I told you I'm not going anywhere," replied Mariha, "You were a very good liar, to trick me like that, why should I trust you now?"  
  
She turned her back to him before he could reply and walked toward the coloured mist.  
  
"Wait!" begged Riku but Mariha ignored him walked straight into the multi-coloured mist that floated in a clump over the ground and disappeared within it.  
  
"No wait! Come back!" called Riku and began to run up the stairs but was stopped by an invisible barrier.  
  
"It's too late!" laughed the evil Riku menacingly, "She's mine!"  
  
The mist in which Mariha had stepped into flashed brightly. Then, its colour was changed to darkness. It began to fade away, revealing its captor.  
  
It was Mariha, there was no doubt about that, but she had two dark wings of a dragon and a devils pointed tail. Her hair had turned black and so had her eyes, making them orbs of endless darkness. She had fingerless gloves that went up to her elbows and hand a metal spike at the end that stuck out even past her elbow. She was wearing a black top and a skirt, long at one end and gradually getting shorter. The bottom was tattered as if it had been ripped instead of cut and the black flame pattern on it licked the grayish background.  
  
"Ma -Mariha?" stammered Riku.  
  
"Nope!" replied the evil Riku, "The one you call Mariha is gone. Her mind is trapped in the darkness, just like yours was once. Say hello to Natia!"  
  
"You," Riku gasped, "Ansem."  
  
"Ha!" he laughed, "So you finally recognized me!"  
  
"What have you done to her?" demanded Riku in fury. Ansem just laughed.  
  
"Since you wouldn't join the darkness I needed a replacement," he said and shrugged as if it were an every day thing, taking over the minds of innocents, "It was easy, almost easier than getting you. I just needed to show her how you joined the darkness."  
  
"I didn't do those things! You made me!" replied Riku.  
  
"Most of them yes," said Ansem, "But you welcomed the darkness into you heart, that's all I needed to get her."  
  
"You're a monster," spat Riku.  
  
"Come now, no harsh names," said Ansem simply, "I didn't lie or anything it's all true, and you know it."  
  
Riku just glared at him.  
  
"Well, I'd love to stay and play but I've got things to attend to," said Ansem as a black wall of darkness appeared behind him. Then he turned to Mariha, or what he now called Natia, "Kill him."  
  
With that, he backed into the dark and disappeared.  
  
"Mariha," Riku said turning to her, "Come on, snap out of it!"  
  
"Silence mortal," she replied, "I am not Mariha, I'm Natia, but you won't know any better when I'm done with you."  
  
She then swooped down to charge at him. She was to fast for Riku now as he hit him across his left cheek. He fell back and she landed to stand over him.  
  
"Pathetic," she said.  
  
Natia picked up Riku but the collar of his shirt and hit him again. He flew back again and hit the floor with a thud. With effort, he slowly got to his feet.   
  
"Mariha," he said, "I don't want to fight you."  
  
"You don't want to fight her," Natia replied, "But I want to fight you! Your not fighting her, so fight me!"  
  
"No."  
  
She charged and kicked him in the stomach. Riku cried out in paid and grasped his stomach, gasping for air. But Natia then got him in the side, knocking him to one knee. She moved so fast that all you could see was a blur of black Riku could barely see her even when she attacked him. Then, she stopped her assault and flew up high above him. She formed a ball of dark energy in her hands and fired it at Riku in a blast of sharp shards.   
  
Riku was tossed back against a wall. His back hit it hard and he cried out. He then slid down it, sitting with his back still against it. Natia charged at him and grabbed him by the neck of his shirt again. She lifted him up so he stood on his toes and pushed him against the wall  
  
"Why won't you fight!" she demanded.  
  
Riku coughed up blood and spat it to the side. His face was bruised and he looked at Natia in exhaustion. His eyes began to close.  
  
"Answer!" yelled Natia and pushed him harder against the wall.  
  
"Because... because you my friend Mariha," he managed to say, "And I don't fight friends."  
  
"Oh really?" she taunted, "You didn't think like that toward you 'friend' Sora did you?"  
  
Without letting go of him, Natia pushed him to the floor.  
  
"Or when you took up the darkness as an ally," she continued.   
  
"Mariha, please listen," said Riku barely as Natia's grip on him started to chock him, "It's not like that!"  
  
"Then what is it like?" she asked.  
  
"I know I messed up and I regret it deeply, but I've seen my mistakes, that's why I'm here, to pay for them. Don't you see? Ansem has turned you into what I used to be."  
  
Natia paused, loosening her grip a bit.  
  
"No," she said but Riku could hear a shake in her voice, "You lied to me about everything! It's can't..."  
  
"Mariha!" called Riku, he knew she could hear him now, "After I met you, I haven't gotten down on myself for all the trouble I've caused. You helped me realize that I needed to accept the past and move on. You're always so cheerful, what happened to that? You're so determined that it makes even me believe anything is possible!"  
  
"Noooo!" screamed Natia and let go of Riku to clutch her head, "You listen to ME now!" Riku realized that she was talking to herself.  
  
"Mariha?" he said, he was getting through, "Mariha can you hear me?"  
  
"Riku, help me," he heard but Natia quickly overpowered her. "I'll finish you off before she stops me!"  
  
She held Riku down again with one hand and raised the other into the air. Darkness gathered in her raised hand and formed a sharp curved knife as long from her hand to her elbow, it's edge dangerously jagged.  
  
"Say goodbye!" she yelled and began to bring the knife down to pierce Riku's heart.  
  
"Mariha! You can fight the darkness!" called Riku, "You know this is wrong!"  
  
Natia faltered.  
  
"I -I can't," said Mariha.  
  
"You can," encouraged Riku, "I believe you can!"  
  
"Ri -Riku?"  
  
Mariha's hair turned to its normal colour and her clothes, wings and tail faded away to her regular attire. Finally, she blinked and her eyes changed back. She looked at Riku for the first time he had seen her with fear in her eyes. She dropped the knife and it clanged to the floor, it turned to ash.  
  
"Wha -what have I done?" she said, terrified looking in disbelief at her hands.  
  
"You're back," said Riku in relief.   
  
"Oh Riku!" said Mariha looking over at him, though it looked more like she was looking right through him. She was shaking all over, "I can't believe I almost..."  
  
"It's ok," he said, propping his soar body up against the wall.  
  
"I don't deserve to be you friend," she said, still staring into nothing, eyes glazed over with fear, "All I've done is put you in danger. And I couldn't stop her, the darkness totally overpowered me."  
  
"It's ok," Riku said again, "I know exactly what it's like."  
  
He had come over to sit right in front of her and he held onto her shoulders so he could look her in the eye. Only then did she seem to see him.  
  
"Mariha?" he said, "Forgive and forget, right?"  
  
He smiled a little and Riku was glad to see that she did the same.  
  
"I'm glad that's over," she said and jumped at Riku to hug him. Riku just blushed and tuned as stiff as stone. Suddenly, an aura of black light formed around Mariha and she pulled back in surprise.  
  
"What?" she said and looked at her hands. Then the aura lifted from her and formed a little ball in front of her face. It then floated down into her hands and disappeared to reveal a necklace with a little blue star pendant.  
  
"What's this?" she said, not really directing the question to anyone.  
  
"It must hold the darkness that took over you," suggested Riku, "I guess it needed somewhere to go."  
  
She shrugged and put it on. Riku suddenly groaned in pain. It had all come back to him the pain from Natia started rushing to his head all at once. It felt like his skin was on fire.  
  
"Oh, we've got to get you help," said Mariha when as he grabbed his soar side, "But there's no one here to help you but me!"  
  
"I'm fine," insisted Riku but he then groaned as a sharp pain when through his side again.  
  
"We need to get out of here," said Mariha.  
  
"No really, I'm alright," said Riku and began to get up. Every bone and muscle resented it but, trying to ignore the pain, he started to walk.  
  
"Riku don't," said Mariha getting up.  
  
"Don't worry," he said, taking a step, "I got it -"  
  
He swayed and collapsed.  
  
"Fine eh?" said Mariha as she helped him up again."  
  
"Thanks," mumbled Riku. She put his arm around her shoulder and together they walked out of the Grand Hall down until Riku told her to open a door to the side of the stairs. She did and inside she found a bedroom.  
  
"How'd you?"  
  
"Let's just say, I've got a good sense of direction," replied Riku with a smile.  
  
He collapsed onto the soft bed. It was so comfortable it seemed like forever since he's slept in a real bed. Mariha sat on a chair beside it and waited as Riku fell asleep. All she could do now was wait...  
  
~*~  
  
Sora and his company had finally fought their way deep into the dark cave at the centre of the Elephant Graveyard. The only light in the cavern came from the lava pools that spotted the sides of the hard rock floor.  
  
"Sora! Over here!" called Simba and disappeared through a tunnel.  
  
Sora followed. Inside the tunnel was dark but Sora followed the light glowing at the end of it. When he came to the end of it, he had to shield his eyes from the bright light that illuminated it.  
  
Once his eyes adjusted, he saw that the light came from a crystal ball as big as his head that was embedded in the top of a short rock pillar. Thought the ball was bursting with light, Sora noticed a large orb of darkness moving around in the very centre.  
  
"What is it?" asked Sora.  
  
"I really don't know," admitted Simba, "But I'm guessing that this is where all the darkness is coming from."  
  
"So it's like a keyhole?" asked Goofy but Simba shrugged.  
  
"Well, lets find out," said Sora. He lifted his Keyblade up to seal the darkness away. They waited a minute or two but nothing happened.  
  
"What?" Sora said confused, "Why didn't it work?"  
  
No one knew the answer. If it wasn't a keyhole, then what was it? They all just stood, looking at it, with puzzled expressions across their faces. Finally, Simba spoke.  
  
"Well, if it's not a keyhole, that would explain why we haven't run into any heartless. But then what could it be?"  
  
"I thinks it's the source of the worlds darkness," said Sora, "See, look there, that's the evil of the world."  
  
"Great," said Donald, "So how are we supposed to get rid of it if the Keyblade doesn't work?"  
  
"We don't," said Sora. Everyone looked at him in surprise, "There will always be darkness and evil in a world, or else the balance of light and dark would be thrown off."  
  
"But it has been thrown off," said Simba.  
  
"Right, so we have to fix it," said Sora. He walked right up to the sphere and held out his hand to touch it.  
  
"Wait!" said Donald, "You don't know what will happen if you touch that thing, you could be sucked in!"  
  
"I have to try," insisted Sora, yea right was Donald going to stop him, "And since the Keyblade didn't do anything, I have to try with my heart."  
  
"Sora..." said Simba uneasily.  
  
"Don't worry," Sora reassured them, "I know what I'm doing."  
  
Then Sora touched it. He was swallowed in darkness. Simba, Donald and Goofy had vanished and he was alone. Though he was surrounded by darkness, his heart was not touched or harmed by it. Then, far in the distance, he saw someone standing in a spot light. They were just standing there, looking around in confusion. Sora ran closer and was shocked at what he saw; the figure looked like Riku.  
  
AN: ok, that was new... this is what happens when I decide to write while listening to Eminem *jks* well, R&R if you must! X_x Do I even have any fans out there? *tear* I'm so alone.... But that's nothing new... Well, till the next chapter then! *turns into a cow* 


	6. Plan B

AN: So, here's the scoop, I gave Sora a little action scene in this chappy! But don't expect anything amazing or anything, cuz u kno I'm still leaning on Riku's side :P hey has anyone else noticed that my so called 'fans' haven't shown up for a while? Well, I guess I can't blame them *sigh*  
  
Disclaimers: Ok, sure I don't own Disney, Squaresoft or Kingdom Hearts, but now I get to own TWO things!! MUHWAHAHAHAHA!!! *Mariha and Natia: Hey! U don't own us!* Now I do! *evil grin* *Mariha and Natia beat me up* Owww x_X ok never mind then...  
  
Plan B  
  
Riku was in a place where there was noting but darkness. He couldn't see anything. But strangely enough, a spot light seemed to shine right over him. Suddenly, he saw a little ray of light following someone who was running toward him. It was Sora!  
  
Am I dreaming again, thought Riku and he rubbed his eyes. Sora was still coming.  
  
"Riku!" he called, stopping right in front of Riku, "Is that you?"  
  
"Sora?" replied Riku, "Am I dreaming?"  
  
"I don't think so, not unless we're having the same dream," he said.  
  
"Good because I was worried that I'd -"  
  
"Riku I can't believe it's you!" Sora cut off. He grinned, "I've been looking for you."  
  
"You have?" said Riku a little surprised. Doesn't he still hate me, he thought.  
  
"Of course!" replied Sora, "You didn't think that I'd just leave you trapped in Kingdom Hearts!"  
  
"Oh, yea..." Riku couldn't think of anything to say, Sora didn't hate him! And he actually did doubt that Sora would come looking for him, but he didn't tell the other boy that.  
  
"It's so good to see you Riku," Sora went on, "I just want to tell you now that I'm sorry for ignoring you back in Traverse Town."   
  
"You're sorry?" said Riku in disbelief, "I'm the one who should be sorry! I caused you so much grief..."  
  
"Well, I guess we can't do anything about it now," said Sora and Riku took this as forgiveness, "So lets go home."  
  
"Alright!" cheered Riku, eagerness filling him, he would finally go home! But then he paused, what about Mariha? He couldn't just leave her all alone.  
  
"Wait, I can't go yet," he said.  
  
"What! Why not?" asked Sora.  
  
"Someone else is trapped with me, I can't just leave," he said.  
  
"Another person!" Sora exclaimed, but he nodded, "Ok, I understand, I think, but how are both of you going to get out?"  
  
Riku thought for a moment. Mariha had been attempting to use that Tela Crystal to teleport them out. Maybe that plan would still work. But what if it didn't? Then he remembered about that light Sora had talked about before; a light in the darkest depths of Kingdom Hearts. Time for plan B.  
  
"Sora," he said, "Go to Destiny Island, our island, and wait six days. If I haven't returned by then, go into the secret place. I'll find that light you talked about and release it. That wooden door, if you really want me to come home, it'll turn into the doors to Kingdom Hearts."  
  
"Right, I got it," said Sora, "Ok, I hope this works!"  
  
"Don't forget now," said Riku with a wink.  
  
"Not a chance," replied Sora.  
  
"I'll see you then I guess," said Riku, giving Sora the thumbs up.  
  
"Yep!" said Sora and returned the gesture.  
  
Then, Sora was surrounded in a beam of light and as the light shrunk and faded, so did Sora.  
  
This better work, thought Riku. He blacked out.  
  
~*~  
  
"Sora!" yelled the familiar annoying voice of Donald.  
  
Sora felt himself being grabbed by the arm and yanked backwards. In doing so, his hand lost contact with the crystal ball.  
  
"Huh?" said Sora, slightly dazed.  
  
"Are you ok?" asked Goofy.  
  
"Hmm? Oh, yea,"   
  
"What happened?" asked Simba.  
  
At first Sora couldn't remember. It all seemed like a dream. Then it came back to him.  
  
"Riku!" he said, "I saw Riku! We talked."  
  
"What?!" said Donald and Goofy together.  
  
Suddenly, the crystal ball glowed ever brighter then turned completely black. The four of them looked over at it in surprise. Then the darkness itself lifted from the ball and jumped up at them. They only moved away just in time. The darkness blob began to take shape. It formed a long, dark brown body, a tail, four legs and a head with a shaggy black main.  
  
"Scar!" roared Simba. The other lion chuckled.  
  
"Why hello there dear Simba!" said Scar, "I'm terribly sorry about not being able to greet you sooner, but I was taking a little nap."  
  
"Scar, you're supposed to be dead!" said Simba.  
  
"Yes, but so were you all those years ago," said Scar simply. He sighed, "That's what I get I guess for entrusting those dim witted hyenas to take care of you."  
  
"Scar, what are you doing here!" said Simba with a frightening, roaring voice.  
  
"You cam back to ruin all my planes last time we met Simba," continued Scar, "So I'm now I'm back to ruin yours!"  
  
Scar then lunged at Simba swiping at the other lion with one big and powerful claw. Simba jumped aside.  
  
"Simba!" called Sora.  
  
"What?" said Scar, now staring at Sora. Then he laughed gleefully, "You brought the Key bearer here too? Oh you are making my job too easy Simba!"  
  
"Come on," said Sora, getting into his fighting pose, Keyblade drawn, "We can take him!"  
  
"Right!" coursed Donald and Goofy and they all joined the fight. Scar roared loudly and a band of hyena's appeared.  
  
"Lets do this!"  
  
~*~  
  
Riku awoke. He had just talked with Sora, or was it a dream? No, it had to be real. He slowly sat up from his comfortable bed. He still ached so he plopped himself back down. He looked to the side of the bed. There, Mariha was sitting on her chair she had pulled up beside the bed. She had her head down on the edge of the soft bed mattress and was fast asleep.  
  
Riku noticed a fire burning brightly in the fireplace. He felt a small pang of pain in his side and looked down to find that it had been bandaged up under his shirt. His head had one too, around his forehead like a bandana. He screwed up his face, imagining how stupid he must look and carefully unwrapped the cloth from his head. Mariha must have found it somewhere for he didn't remember her having all this before.  
  
He pulled the little white handkerchief that Mariha had used on his arm a while back. He had kept it and washed the blood off. He had been meaning to give it back, but something stopped him. A part of him wanted to keep it, for what reason he really had no idea. He stuffed it back into his pocket and touched his cheek where Natia had hit him. There was defiantly a bruise as it stung when he touched it.  
  
Riku flopped his hand to his side and stared at the ceiling. He had told Sora to open the door in six days. Within that time, Mariha should be ready to teleport them. And just in case that didn't work, he'd search for the light and wait for Sora to unlock the door. Then he and Mariha would finally be free. He just hoped that Sora really cared enough to want him to come home, or the plan would be meaningless.  
  
"I hope we'll have enough time," he said to himself aloud.  
  
Riku the rolled over onto his unhurt side, the one Mariha was sleeping on, and leaned over to her. She looked so calm. Suddenly, something came over Riku and he reached down to gently touch her cheek. Her eyes fluttered open.  
  
Riku quickly pulled back and blushed. "Oh, sorry," he said uneasily, "I didn't mean to wake you."  
  
"That's ok," she said, not seeming to notice his uneasiness. She looked up at him and made a little smile, which caused Riku to blush even deeper. Then a sharp pain pierced his side and flinched, not realizing that he had cried out, mostly out of surprise, as well.  
  
"Are you ok?" Mariha asked now looking over to where his hand was, over his side.  
  
"I'm a lot better than before, but maybe a rib is fractured," he said, "Hey, thanks for all this though."  
  
Mariha looked down. "Well, I had to make up for all the trouble I've caused," she said and Riku was surprised at how much she sounded like himself, "I still think -"  
  
"Don't," cut in Riku and she lifted her head to look at him, "It was all worth it for you friendship."  
  
"Thanks," she said.  
  
Riku didn't really know what he was doing, but he suddenly raised his hand to touch her cheek. She then put her hand over his and held it. Surprisingly he didn't feel uncomfortable anymore and he smiled a bit at that. With the pause came a long silence.  
  
"Mariha," he said, breaking the silence and taking his hand away from her face, "I want to tell you that, I -I'm... well," what am I babbling about, he thought. He was so confused. He didn't know how he felt anymore, "Sorry. Yea, I'm so sorry that I lied to you."  
  
"Riku..." started Mariha, but couldn't find the words to continue.  
  
"But I promise," he continued, "I'll never turn on you. We're friends right? We're going to get out of here together."  
  
Mariha smiled. "Thanks," she said, "That means a lot."  
  
~*~  
  
Sora kept hacking at Scar but he didn't seem to be causing any damage. He was getting desperate. Scar was relentless and the hyenas kept coming out of nowhere to top it all off. He decided to take out the hyenas first then maybe he'd have figured out a way to defeat Scar then. So, as soon as he had cleared away all the hyenas, he turned back to face Scar.  
  
"Your pretty good," Scar said to Sora, "Defeating all my hyenas already."  
  
"Humph," snorted Sora, he really didn't care about Scars small talk that was obviously stalling for something.  
  
"But now you're mine!" Scar lunged at Sora who wasn't expecting anything but suddenly Simba jumped in front to block the attack. All Sora saw was a blur of fur teeth and claws.  
  
"Simba!" Sora called.  
  
"Sora, quickly, destroy the orb," said Simba dodging a swipe from Scars paw.  
  
"But..." He didn't want to leave Simba alone to fight Scar.  
  
"GO!"  
  
Sora nodded, even though Simba was no longer watching him but had gotten back into a rolling fight with Scar, and ran over to the crystal ball.  
  
"No, you'll never defeat me!" roared Scar and went for Sora. But Simba pulled him back by the tail.  
  
"We're not done!" he said.  
  
"Simba!" roared Scar, "I should have killed you myself all those years ago!"  
  
"Should've, could've, would've, didn't," smirked Simba.  
  
"I'll have great pleasure in killing you now with my own two paws," said Scar, "Though I do wish it were more like Mufasa's death."  
  
That made Simba mad. He charged ragingly at Scar.  
  
"No I'll have the pleasure in making you pay for killing my father!" he roared.  
  
While the two lions fought, Sora reached the pedestal on which the crystal orb stood on.  
  
I need to dispel the darkness, thought Sora. He closed and concentrated with the light of his heart. He wished for the balance of good and evil to be restored to this world. There, deep inside him, a light shone. He needed to get the light to conceal the darkness.  
  
Sora felt the light of his heart inside him reached out to the orb. He felt it enter it, but the darkness wasn't backing down. He began to distress. His light, it wasn't working!  
  
Why won't it work, he thought, I'm the Keyblade master, I have the purest heart, so why does it have no effect on the darkness?  
  
Then a thought hit him. Of course! The Keyblade! He'd just use the Keyblade to help his light. He raised it and pointed at the orb. A beam of light darted from the Keyblade to the crystal ball of darkness. The light of Sora's heart and the light of the Keyblade reached the darkness and it exploded outwards. The crystal didn't break, but Sora felt the wave of the darkness flow past him and he looked over at where Simba and Scar where fighting.  
  
"Nooo!" shrieked Scar, "How could you beat me? I'm not finished with you Simba! I'll get yoooooou..."  
  
His voice died away as he began to disintegrate into darkness, which floated away.  
  
"Um, what happened?" asked Goofy when everything was totally quiet for a few seconds.  
  
"It wasn't really Scar," replied Sora, "It was like his ghost that had taken a physical form with the help of the darkness."  
  
"Oh! I get it!" said Goofy, "Um, what'd you say again?"  
  
"Never mind!" said Donald. Simba and Sora laughed but stopped when Donald gave them the this-is-not-at-all-funny-don't-you-dare-laugh-at-me look.  
  
"I guess we should head back to Pride Rock," said Simba.  
  
They all followed him out of the cave, and into the sunlight.  
  
~*~  
  
"Oh Mariha I almost forgot!" exclaimed Riku.  
  
"What is it?" she asked.  
  
"I -I spoke with Sora in my dream," he said.  
  
"What!"  
  
"Yea," continued Riku, "I told him that you were with me and that you were working on teleporting us to an outside world."  
  
"Yes..."  
  
"So," Riku continued, "I told him that if we weren't on Destiny Islands in six days, that he should open this door to get us out."  
  
"But I don't understand," said Mariha, "How is he going to find the door? If no one's found it so far, why would it suddenly appear for him?"  
  
"Well, it's a little complicated," replied Riku, "See, there's this light that is deep within Kingdom Hearts. If we find the light and release it, Sora will be able to find the door, seeing as he is the Keyblade Mater, so he can open it and we can all go home."  
  
"So, even if I can't teleport us, there's still another chance that we'll get out?" asked Mariha.  
  
"Yep," replied Riku nodding.  
  
"Alright!" she cheered and grinned. At least she seemed to be her cheerful self again.  
  
"Oh!" said Mariha suddenly, "I almost forgot, I think my magic is strong enough now! While I waited and you slept I concentrated really, really hard and I think all my time on it has paid off! Riku, as soon as you're better, we'll be able to go!"  
  
"Really!" said Riku in excitement, "That's great! Come on, let's go now."  
  
"Whoa, hold on there," said Mariha, "You may be feeling better, but you're not well enough to go."  
  
"But," complained Riku.  
  
"No buts!" Mariha cut off, "I'm the one who'll be taking us so I say when we go. Come on, it won't kill you to wait one day."  
  
"I guess there's no arguing with you," Riku said with a sigh.  
  
"Great," she said, "Then if you're feeling as good as you hope you are, let's get out of this crazy castle."  
  
"No argue there," agreed Riku.  
  
They both grabbed new, clean blankets to sleep on since they didn't think they'd be going back to their little camp and hurried outside. They found that the castle had conveniently settled itself back into the ground.  
  
"Well, this is sure handy," said Mariha. She walked away from the castle gates to where Riku was waiting for her a little ways off.  
  
"The castle!" he cried suddenly, pointing to it, "It's vanishing!"  
  
"Wha?" Mariha turned and looked over to the castle. To her surprise, it had completely disappeared into thin air. Where the castle had been just moments before, was now nothing but a gathering of those strange tree toadstool things. Mariha walked over beside Riku.  
  
"Well, that would explain why we never saw it before," he said as he continued to walk, Mariha to his side, "It never existed. Ansem must have conjured it up our of nothing..."  
  
Riku and Mariha walked slowly down a steep, rocky cliff then reached another forest. But this one was different. It had actual trees in it, only they were all dead. Dried leaves scattered the floor as their owners stood bare. Many of the trees were twisted into crazy knots and bent into strange positions for a tree. Most of them were hollow and had large, head sized holes in there trunks. A home for a shadow heartless maybe?  
  
The forest's trees looked very intimidating with their bare and twisted branches. The forest had not path going through it but it didn't matter since it wasn't that dense. Each tree seemed to have a few good feet apart from the other. No other plants could be seen growing on the ground like they would in a normal forest, partly because of the thick carpet of dead leaves covered it. Not a hint of green was to be seen anywhere.  
  
"Well isn't this inviting," said Mariha sarcastically. She walked up to a tree and examined it closely. It had a big hollow hold in it and she raised her hand to touch it.  
  
"Don't," said Riku, coming beside her and lower her hand, "I don't like it here, this place gives me a bad feeling."  
  
He looked around he could almost hear Ansem's mocking voice laughing at him. Mariha tried to follow his gaze to see what he was looking at.  
  
"We should stay together," Riku said. Mariha nodded. No argue there, this place gave her the creeps."   
  
She went to grab the hilt of her sword to comfort herself when she realized that it wasn't there.  
  
"My sword!" she said in distress, "Where is my sword?"  
  
Riku who had walked further ahead turned and came back to where Mariha was standing.  
  
"What? Where'd you see it last?" he asked.  
  
Mariha tried to think. She closed her eyes and tried to remember when she had it last.  
  
"Ah no," she moaned, opening her eyes suddenly.  
  
"What?"   
  
"No, that stupid other self or yours destroyed it!" she complained.  
  
Riku sighed, annoyed, he'd had just about enough of Ansem.  
  
"It's ok," said Mariha, "I probably won't even need it seeing as we're leaving tomorrow. Besides, I still have my magic."  
  
She smiled at him. Riku couldn't stay annoyed even with Ansem when she smiled like that.  
  
"If you say so," he said.  
  
"Ok, I guess we should walk until we get tired then I'll try teleporting us when we wake tomorrow," suggested Mariha.  
  
"Great," agreed Riku.  
  
The two of them walked side by side through the dark woods until there legs wouldn't carry them any further. They set down their blankets, lay down and fell asleep instantly, exhausted from their long hike through the Dead Forest.  
  
AN: Yup, that'll prolly be the extent of my action scene writing skills *sigh* but no one's perfect! *random crow: well you should be!* hey! Who said you had anything to do this? *random crow attacks me* this is not my day! *is dead* 


	7. Nightmare in the Dead Forest

AN: Short little chapter for ya here (the shortest one that'll be appearing in this story anyways)! Yea, it does have a kind of dark or dreary name to it, but don't worry! I got hyper while writing so I put some comic relief in! ^-^ This is pretty even with Sora and Riku's side of the story, just trying to be fair! :P  
  
Disclaimers: Guess what! I kno I'v been saying that I don't own Kingdom Hearts or stuff like that, but I own a copy of the Kingdom Hearts game! Does that count? O never mind again, but I created a new character sorta thinginy to keep Mariha and Natia company.. OMG!! I almost forgot! Actually I did forget! I made up Naomi too! So that's 4 pplz now, and that'll be all for the rest of the story I think. Well, on with the show!  
  
Nightmare in the Dead Forest  
  
"Simba!" Nala ran over to him, "Are you ok?"  
  
"Yea," replied Simba.  
  
"What happened?" asked Nala.  
  
"It was Scar," said Simba, "He used the darkness to get revenge on me, but he failed again. The gone for good now, thanks to Sora of course."  
  
Sora smiled and blushed a bit in embarrassment.  
  
"Well, I did have a lot of help from you guys," he said.  
  
They all went into the cave in Pride Rock to be greeted by roaring cheers from the lionesses. After everything quieted down, Simba walked over to Sora.  
  
"Sora, you have our greatest thanks in helping to defeat the growing evil here," he said. The lionesses created a cheerful uproar again. Simba continued as soon as it was quiet, "You are welcome to come back to our home and ask us anything if you need help. I'm just sorry you weren't able to save your friend."  
  
"Thank you Simba," said Sora, "And don't worry about Riku, at least I got to talk to him."  
  
Simba smiled. "But unfortunately I won't be able to come along with you on your journey any longer. I'm needed here."  
  
"That's ok, I understand," replied Sora.  
  
Suddenly, a shout came from the entrance of the cave.  
  
"Hello? Hey! Guess who's back!"  
  
Sora turned to see who the new comers were. He looked down at a very strange duo: a mere cat riding on top of a warthog.  
  
"Timone! Pumba!" Simba called back and trotted over to them.  
  
"Simba you're back!" exclaimed the mere cat.  
  
"Ya, but where have you two been?" asked Simba.  
  
"Well, we went back to our little jungle for a little 'R&R'. You know, for a little vacation from the busy Pride Lands," replied the mere cat coolly. He spoke so quickly that Sora had a hard time understanding him.  
  
"O ya! I almost forgot," Simba said turning to Sora, "Guys, this is Sora, and Sora, these two are Timone and Pumba. There good friends of mine."  
  
He pointed out that the mere cat was Timone and the warthog was Pumba.  
  
"Pleased to make you acquaintance," said Pumba, bowing a little so that Timone fell off his head.  
  
"You too," replied Sora.  
  
"Hey!" said Simba, "I have an idea! Why don't you two go with Sora in my place?"  
  
"That's a great idea," agreed Sora.  
  
"Whow, whow, whow," exclaimed Timone and crossed his hands into a "T" shape, "Time out. Where exactly are you going?"  
  
"There going to save his friend," replied Simba.  
  
"Ok, a little more specific," said Timone.  
  
"Well, we go to all kinds of worlds," said Sora, "And we defeat the heartless and seal the Keyhole."  
  
"Keyhole? Heartless? You've lost me kid," said Timone, "But I guess we could get away for a little adventure, Pumba?"  
  
"O yeah!" Pumba replied, "But will there be food?"  
  
"Huh?" said Sora but Simba laughed.  
  
"Well Pumba, there's no guarantee that they'll be a whole lot of food but," Simba told them, "You will be able to beat up some bad guys."  
  
"OH YEAH!" shouted Timone and Pumba together then broke into what seemed like some sort of victory dance.  
  
"I'm in!" said Timone.  
  
"Me too!" chimed in Pumba.  
  
"Great! Well then, we leave fist thing tomorrow morning," said Sora. He walked deeper into the cave as Timone and Pumba followed beside Simba.  
  
"He doesn't mean like, first thing in the morning does he?" asked Timone a little worriedly, "You know, like FIRST THING?"  
  
~*~  
  
Mariha was in a strange place. Was this a dream? It wasn't somewhere she had ever been before, so how did she know this place existed? She found herself standing on the dry, rocky surface of the top of a cliff. The cliff's edge was behind her a few meters back and it dropped straight down into a bottomless abyss. There was a high ledge on which a great evil darkness sat.   
  
Mariha looked up at the darkness that seemed to be ever moving, changing it's shape every second. Finally, it formed a type of heartless she had never seen before. It didn't take notice in her and instead seemed to be talking to someone below it. Mariha couldn't see who it was at first, then, the picture became clear, it was Riku.   
  
Riku lay on his uncomfortable blanket he had attempted to roll into a sort of sleeping bag. Despite his uncomfort, he had been having a nice, peaceful sleep but something had awoken him.  
  
Probably just the wind or something, he thought and turned to go back to sleep.  
  
"No Riku!"  
  
He sat upright. What was that? He looked over to Mariha who was tossing and turning in her sleep.  
  
"Mariha? What's the matter?" said Riku and shook her gently, "Wake-up."  
  
"Come back!" she said still asleep.  
  
"What? I'm right here now wake-up!" said Riku with more urgency in his voice and he shook her a bit harder.  
  
Then Mariha's eyes burst open and she stared at Riku in surprise.  
  
"Hey? What happened?" Riku asked.  
  
"You're here!" she said in disbelief.  
  
"Yea, why wouldn't I be?" he replied, puzzled.  
  
"Oh, it was just a dream..." she said looking away. It was so real, she thought to herself. And felt a shiver eek down her spin.  
  
She's afraid, thought Riku, She never used to be like this.  
  
"Riku?" he heard I little voice say, "We're getting out of this together right?"  
  
Riku looked at her, even more puzzled, "Yea, I've told you that before."  
  
"You promise you won't leave without me?" she asked.  
  
She looked up at Riku, awaiting his response and he smiled.  
  
"Promise."  
  
Mariha smiled back.  
  
"Hey we should really get back to sleep," said Riku.  
  
"Yea, you're right," she replied and lay back down. She seemed to be back to normal.  
  
She closed her eyes and fell asleep. Riku sat beside her against a tree trunk to make sure she wouldn't go crazy on him again. He watched her, for some reason not being able to fall asleep himself, when suddenly an image flashed before his eyes. It only stayed for the slightest second and he flinched at the sudden snap of it. But he shrugged and thought nothing of it. Then, his head tiled back and he began to doze.  
  
~*~  
  
"Bye! Thanks again! Bye!" Sora called back as he waved to Simba, Nala and the other lionesses that watched Sora and his companions leave from the top of Pride Rock.  
  
"Sora! Hurry up!" yelled Donald.  
  
"Ya, ya," sighed Sora. He waved one last time to the pack and turned to catch up with Donald and Goofy.  
  
They all piled into the gummi ship Sora sat quietly and stared at the gummi block Simba had given him just before they left.  
  
"Here, it may help you on you're journey home," he had said, "I found it one day in the Pride Lands and kept it, what do you know, it was still where I had left it after our world re-appeared.  
  
Sora tossed the gummi block into the air and caught it in his fist. Riku, I promised to help you, he thought, so here I come!  
  
Then a distressing thought crossed his mind. "Donald!" he said.  
  
"What," replied Donald.  
  
"I promised Riku that I'd be ready to open that door to Kingdom Hearts in six days," he explained.  
  
"So?" said Donald.  
  
"So, didn't you say that every minute here could be a day in Kingdom Hearts?" Sora asked, "Six days for him might have already passed!"  
  
"Um..." Donald was speechless.  
  
"Maybe the times were synchronized when King Mickey used up the last portal," suggested Goofy.  
  
"Come one Goofy! That's stupid!" replied Donald. The a thought crossed his mind, "I know! Maybe the times were synchronized when King Mickey used up the last portal!"  
  
"Gwarsh," said Goofy, "Why didn't I think of that?"  
  
Sora just frowned at them and gave them a wow-you-guys-really-are-clueless look.  
  
"Well I hope your right," he said finally, "Because we'll just have to go by our time, there's no way we would've been able to get to Destiny Islands in six minutes, we still don't even know where it is!"  
  
"Yea," agreed Donald and Goofy together.  
  
"Hey, maybe we should go to Hollow Bastion and ask Cid about that gummi block," suggested Goofy.  
  
"Ok, lets go then," said Sora with a nod.  
  
"Watch where you're going Goofy!" yelled Donald as a crater barely missed colliding with their ship.  
  
"Oh right!" replied Goofy.  
  
Sora laughed as Donald suddenly had to take steer of the ship while Goofy tried to free himself from his hat, which had engulfed his head. They weren't a Riku or Kairi, but they were still his friends. He grinned goofily and laughed even harder as Donald wrestled with the steering wheel while Goofy kept hitting buttons and pushing leavers blindly because his hat was covering his eyes. Finally, Sora freed Goofy and Donald settled down.  
  
But the commotion started up again as Donald and Goofy argued over which direction was faster.  
  
"O bother," sigh Sora. He shook his head hopelessly. This is going to be a long trip, he thought and ducked as Donald's staff took a swipe at Goofy.  
  
~*~  
  
Riku had been sitting half asleep in a daze against that tree beside Mariha. He couldn't fall completely thought his eyes felt as heavy as boulders.  
  
I'll never be able to sleep here, he thought. He could feel it now. Ansem was watching them, lurking in the shadows of this dead forest. It sent shivers down his back he never really liked ghost stories.  
  
Then he heard a whimper by his side again. Mariha started shifting around uncomfortable.  
  
"Mariha?" Riku said, he didn't know what to do other than wake her. She's dreaming again, he thought, It's got to be him, Ansem is causing this!   
  
"Mariha, wake-up," he said again and put his hand on her shoulder.  
  
The instant his had touched her, Mariha stopped moving around and stopped muttering in her sleep. The fear that covered her face moments ago disappeared and she looked as if she had been sleeping soundly all this time.  
  
Ok, what just happened, thought Riku. But he shrugged; maybe it wasn't another dream after all.  
  
Riku went back to leaning on his tree and sat with his eyes closed. He was thinking, but not about nothing in particular. Just thinking the random thoughts that popped into his head. He began to unconsciously fiddle with something on his wrist. He opened his eyes to see what it was; the bracelet Mariha had made him.  
  
O yea, he thought, I almost forgot that I was wearing it.   
  
He raised his arm to his face to get a better look at it. He gazed in wonder for a moment, then put his arm back down, closed his eyes and finally fell asleep.  
  
Mariha was in the same frightening dream. The bottomless cliff behind her, the evil darkness above, and Riku ahead. All she could do was watch helplessly, she knew what was going to happen, but she couldn't seem to move. The darkness debated with Riku about something but Mariha was too far away to hear their words. Then, the evil noticed Mariha watching and smiled cruelly. Mariha couldn't really see a smile, but she could feel it. Riku looked in distress over to Mariha, then to the darkness.  
  
"No!" he yelled and ran toward Mariha. The darkness shot a thin, long pointed needle that seemed to be made out of the same stuff Natia's dagger was composed of.  
  
"Please wake-up!" she yelled at herself and fell to her knees, eyes clamped shut.  
  
"No, I know what's going to happen," she said in horror.  
  
Then something forced her to look up at Riku just as the deadly needle was about to hit him; pierce him in the back, through his heart. He had run to her to save her. That shot was meant for her. He was saving her life, by giving his.  
  
She remembered the horrifying scene she was forced to witness before. She watched, thought she wished she didn't, Riku run over to her like he was doing now. She ran toward him as well, but just before she reached his arms, the shot struck him, pierced him right through his heart. His eye then went blank but from his momentum of running, he toppled over Mariha who caught him. The long needlepoint disintegrated. She put him down and turned him over. His eyes were closed, Mariha couldn't find his heartbeat, and he wasn't breathing. He was dead, dead in her arms.  
  
She didn't want to see it again, but her eyes wouldn't close. He was so close, so was the shot, it was only an inch away from his unprotected back...  
  
"Mariha?" someone called.  
  
The scene froze in place the dark shot only centimeters away from Riku.  
  
"Mariha," said the voice again. It wasn't a sound that Mariha head with her ears, but it seemed to come from all directions, filling up her head with its powerful echo.  
  
"It's Riku!" said Mariha, "I'm dreaming, he's trying to wake me."  
  
Suddenly she felt something on her shoulder. She looked at it but nothing was there. Then, everything disappeared. It all vanished before her eyes. She found herself in a place with no visible walls, ceiling or floor. It was just like the one the evil Riku had brought her to only instead of darkness it was light. No a blinding white light, but a shinning light that had no describable colour to it.   
  
Then, a little winged creature flew around from behind Mariha and nuzzled her on the cheek affectionately. The creature had a long, slender body; almost like a snake's but instead of scales it was covered in pure white feathers. It's wings reminded Mariha of an angels only instead of white like the rest of the creatures body, it was tined with the lightest shade of pink. Its head was rounded with a little point of a nose. On its forehead was a backwards 'S' shape that was the same colour as its wings. Altogether, the length of it was only as long as three quarters of one of Mariha's arms.  
  
"Hello," she said to the playful critter and stroked it under the chin, "Who are you?"  
  
The creature made a happy squeak when Mariha pet it then flew in circles around her. Then it flew up high above her and stretched it's wings out as far apart as it could. Light burst from the little flying creature and Mariha needed to shield her eyes from its strong rays, but she thought she had heard a voice.  
  
"My gift to you; it's name it Alee, it's a creature of pure light, to come to the one with the purest of hearts," it said in her head, "It will help you if you are in need. For you will be the one to restore the light of Kingdom Hearts as Mariha. I bid thee farewell now."  
  
The light Alee emitted then died down and she could see it do a happy little summersault in the air, causing a single feather to flutter down into Mariha's hands.  
  
"Wait!" she said, "Tell me more! I don't understand. How am I supposed to release the light? I don't even really know what it is!"  
  
"You will learn in good time," the disembodied voice replied. Mariha awoke.  
  
AN: See! Almost completely pointless up until where Alee comes in XD but pay attention cuz in the end of the story, everything that doesn't seem to make sense to you now will further on. Yea, I have a habit of making a lot of past events be very significant at the ending! R&R please, mostly just to kno someone's reading this, even if it's just "I read this" Thankies! 


	8. Escape From Kingdom Hearts

AN: Hee hee, another little shorty for ya! O and sorry about taking so long on this one. I was busy with guests and stuff! XD lol u notice how my weekends are crazy and busy yet the weeks are sooooo dull? This is what the lack of school does to ya! *Mariah: does what?* I dunno, random comment by me....  
  
Disclaimers: I don't own anything. And I don't think I ever will. But that doesn't mean I don't' want to! *Mariha, Natia, Naomi and Alee are huddled in the 'Yea we were made up by the author' corner*  
  
Escape From Kingdom Hearts  
  
Finally, after Goofy and Donald settled their debate, the trio revealed Hollow Bastion. As the group walked up the steps from The Rising Falls to the castle above bearing the giant symbol of the heartless on it's front.  
  
This world used to be the main source of the heartless, and the home of Ansem. He was the king of this world and experimented with the heartless so eventually his heart was devoured by darkness. But Sora had gotten rid of him for good after sealing the heart of the world and stopping Ansem from releasing its power. This was also the former home of Kairi before she mysteriously appeared on his island. Not to mention Cloud, Arieth, Yuffie, Leon and Cid's home world. Now, they were the only ones who chose to live in the pretty much, deserted castle, along with Belle, one the Princesses of Heart, and her companion Beast.  
  
"Hurry up Sora!" yelled the voice Sora couldn't seem to avoid, Donald.  
  
"Calm down," said Sora dryly, "It's no like Cid is going to go anywhere in the next 5 minutes!"  
  
Donald frowned and snorted in annoyance. Then he turned on his heal with a 'Humph!' to continue up to the castle gates. Score one for me, thought Sora with grin of triumph.  
  
They continued into the castle and soon found Cid lounging in the library along with Leon and Yuffie.  
  
"Sora?" said Cid in amazement when he notice the boy walk into the library, "Is that you?"  
  
"What's up?" asked Sora smiling.  
  
"What? How did you -" began Yuffie but was rendered speechless.  
  
"Yea, it's nice to see you too," said Sora sarcastically, why were they all goggling at him? Yuffie scowled at him.  
  
"Sora, it's great to see you," said Leon coolly as usual.  
  
"Well, at least someone has the decency to say hello," said Sora hinting to Yuffie while glaring at her.  
  
"Ya, ya, ride the joy train for all its worth," muttered Yuffie under her breath.  
  
"What did you say!" said Sora threateningly waving a fist in the air.  
  
"Now, now kind, no fighting," said Cid and stepped in between the two.  
  
Sora and Yuffie glared at each other for a moment then turned away with a little humph. Cid sighed and shook his head and Sora quickly stuck his tongue out at Yuffie before Cid noticed.  
  
"Well anyways, Sora, how did you get here?" asked Leon to change the subject.  
  
"We just used our gummi ship to get here," replied Sora, temporarily forgetting about Yuffie.  
  
"But after you sealed the last world, you should have gone home and all the worlds would be completely isolated from each other again," explained Arieth.  
  
"O yea," said Sora like it was an unimportant thing that had slipped his mind. Then a thought hit him, "Then my job must not be done, you know, as the Keyblade Master. There must be something more I need to do."  
  
"O, and what would that be?" asked Leon.  
  
"Well, for starters, I need to save my friend Riku who was trapped in Kingdom Hearts," replied Sora.  
  
"What!" cried Cid, "Isn't he that kid who got you into this mess? Did HE almost unlock the heart of this very world by using you're friend Kairi?"  
  
"It wasn't him, it was Ansem who was controlling him!" Sora sprang to Riku's defense.  
  
"Whoa, calm down there," said Cid, "I didn't mean to offend you or anything."  
  
"S'ok," replied Sora.  
  
"So what do ya need?" asked Cid.  
  
"O, well we got this gummi," started Sora, looking around, "Donald?"  
  
"Right," said Donald. He held out the gummi block so Cid could see it.  
  
"Ah, let's see here," said Cid taking the block in his hand to get a closer look. "I'll have to take a closer look at it," he said finally, "I never seen this kind of gummi before."  
  
"Ok," said Sora, "So how long will it take?"  
  
"Might take a while," replied Cid, "But you can go ahead and explore the castle while you waiting. We were able to clean it up a bit since you last came here."  
  
"Ok," said Sora, "I need a break from flying in the gummi ship anyways." He gave Donald and Goofy a little hinting glare.  
  
"Smell ya later squirt," said Yuffie.  
  
Before Sora could get back at Yuffie, Donald and Goofy shoved him out of the library into the hall.  
  
~*~  
  
Mariha opened her eyes. She sat up then felt something in her hand. She raised both hands, cupped together. A think stream of light went the length of her hands together then rested itself in her hands and diminished its glow.  
  
What's this, she thought, A feather?  
  
She stared at it for a moment, Then this means Alee is real!  
  
Mariha looked to her side where Riku was sitting against a tree. He wasn't sleeping but looking into the sky, deep in thought. He hadn't noticed her get up.  
  
Mariha looked at Riku and thought about he had saved her in that horrible nightmare. Would he really do that for her? She didn't really want to know; she didn't want to find out if that dream was real. But she smiled and hugged the feather to her heart. Suddenly, it turned into light again and shot into her necklace. It formed a flat light yellow circle, like a coin, and placed itself behind the blue star.  
  
During all of this, Riku still hadn't noticed Mariha. She crawled over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Riku?"  
  
He turned and looked at her. His face was blank, emotionless, and he didn't say a word.  
  
"Riku," Mariha said again.  
  
Riku then snapped out of his trance and looked at her in surprise.  
  
"Hey, when did you wake-up?" he said.  
  
Mariha made a puzzled frown, how could he have not noticed her? "A little while ago," she said.  
  
Riku put a hand to his head. "Must have zoned out for a second," he said with a sigh.  
  
"You ok?"  
  
"Yea, just need to clear my head."  
  
"Ok," said Mariha, "Let's start by getting out of this creepy forest."  
  
Riku nodded in agreement. They soon got up and started walking again. As they went, Riku kept stumbling over stumps and roots. Mariha could plainly seem that he was tired, but he just said he had gotten a bit dizzy. Of course Mariha didn't buy his story but left him.  
  
Ah, he'll be fine, he always is, thought Mariha, He's too stubborn to accept my help anyway.   
  
As they went on, Riku seemed to be getting better. Finally, they came to the edge of the forest and before them was a wide, flat dark desert.   
  
"Alright!" Mariha, "This is perfect!"  
  
Riku didn't see how a long, dry desert was perfect for anything, but Mariha's cheerfulness affected him. He couldn't help but feel a surge of happiness come on from watching Mariha gazing excitedly out over the land. Especially because he didn't know if she would be her normal self again, after that thing in the castle.  
  
Ansem is messing with her, he thought. He knew it. He hadn't gotten a wink of sleep because he knew that Ansem was just waiting to toy with Mariha's head again, I know what he's doing. He wants me, but why does he care so much as to get just me?  
  
He sure didn't seem to care that much when he lost Mariha as his follower. He wanted Riku for something, something only Riku could give him, but what was it?  
  
"Coming Riku?" said Mariha and smiled wide.  
  
"Huh, o, be right there," he said, "You go ahead."  
  
Mariha just shrugged and ran a little ways ahead into the desert. Riku watched as she looked up at the dark sky and spun around and around, arms wide. He laughed and went down to meet with her.  
  
Before he got to her, he glanced back at the forest.  
  
"Riku!" called Mariah. He turned and walked in Mariha's direction, but instead of stopping beside her, he kept walking right past her.  
  
"Hey..." she said quietly.  
  
Riku just kept walking. He couldn't get it out of his head. He had the feeling they hadn't seen the last of Ansem. He'd be back, and soon no doubt.  
  
How can I cheer him up, Mariha thought to herself, I got it!  
  
She ran up behind Riku, put a hand on his shoulder and spun him around quickly, catching him by surprise and almost causing him to loose balance and fall over.  
  
"What are you -" he stammered as she grabbed his hands.  
  
Mariha laughed to cut him off.   
  
"Come on! I know what you want," she said.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
Mariha laughed again and grinned wide. Then she turned his hands palm side up and placed something in his hands. She moved her hands away so he could see the Tela Crystal now sitting in his hands.  
  
"Remember this?" she said, "You promised me you'd take me to Destiny Islands remember?"  
  
Riku smiled a little, "Yea, I remember."  
  
"Great lets go!" she said and took the crystal out of his hands. She then grabbed his wrist and started dragging him over to a wide-open space, far from the hill of stones they were following.  
  
"Wha -now?" said Riku in surprise.  
  
"Yea silly! The sooner the better," she replied and stopped pulling, releasing his wrist at the same time, "I hate it here."  
  
Riku nodded, "Me too."  
  
"Right," said Mariha, "Now, we have to hold the crystal in between our hand."  
  
She took her his hand with one of her own and directed it so the crystal wouldn't fall out of their hands. Riku didn't object so Mariha gave him a final glance and then closed her eyes.  
  
"Hold on," she said.  
  
The black sand around them then began to blow around them, surrounding them. Riku could feel a warm energy from the crystal. It flowed thought his arm and he shuddered. It filled his body, then his mind. Within the blink of an eye he was flying through a colourful vortex of bright lights.  
  
Colours of all shades swirled together, never mixing, as far as the eye could see. Riku and Mariha were zooming through a shinning tunnel. The, in the distance, Riku could barely see a door at the end of the vortex. It filled Riku's mind with visions of his home. That door, it was the same one that resided in the Secret Place Sora and he had discovered as kids. That door would open up to his home!  
  
In his excitement he didn't realize that he was squeezing harder and harder on the crystal. Finally, it couldn't take the pressure and shattered into dust. Riku cried out when he realized what he had done. No, it wouldn't work now, would it? Riku looked over at Mariha, her eyes were now on his. The energy within him began to fade.  
  
"No please Riku! Hold on!" cried Mariha.  
  
"What?" replied Riku. His hand wasn't slipping from hers or anything. Then he looked at his other hand. He almost cried out in alarm when he saw that is the energy faded, so did he! He could already see through his opposite arm.  
  
"Hold on, we need to keep going. I need to tap into my life energy," said Mariha and focused again.  
  
Life what, thought Riku.  
  
"No Mariha!" he called in alarm. She was going to use her own life's energy to keep going, "It'll kill you!"  
  
Mariha ignored him.  
  
"Mariha answer me! You have to stop now!" Riku said now getting desperate.  
  
He could slowly feel the energy coming back into him. He looked at his hand; it was whole again.  
  
"Mariha! You have to stop!"  
  
"No, I have to get you home," she panted.  
  
"It'll kill you, your draining out your own life!"  
  
"At least it'll get you home," she argued thought she could barely speak now.  
  
Riku shook his head, "No it's not worth it! Me going home isn't worth you life!"  
  
Riku brought his other hand over and rested it on her forehead. He flinched when he touched it. He could feel it. He could feel the pain of his life being sucked out of him. It was going to Mariha.  
  
"What are you doing?" she called, voice stronger now.  
  
Riku barely had the energy to speak now.  
  
"Stop... now..." he managed to say.  
  
"But we might not have even left Kingdom Hearts yet," Mariha replied.  
  
Riku passed out.  
  
"No Riku!"  
  
The colours disappeared. They were out of the vortex. As soon as the last hint of the tunnel vanished, Riku's eyes burst open and he was gasping for air.   
  
"I'm so sorry!" cried Mariha holding him up with his arm around her shoulder.  
  
Riku coughed a bit but managed to find his voice, "Don't worry, I'll be fine."  
  
He stood up himself and took one big breath.  
  
"I don't just mean that," she said looking to the ground, "I wasn't able to send you home."  
  
"Hey, it was my fault. I didn't realize that I was crushing the crystal in my excitement," he said and when Mariha looked up at him he smiled at her, "Like I said before, nothing is worth loosing a friend like you."  
  
"Thanks," she said.  
  
"Right well," stared Riku looking around, "Guess that 'Plan B' will come into effect after all. Operation: Find the light."  
  
Mariha giggled. "Roger Captain," she said putting on voice.  
  
Riku glared at her for a moment but Mariha kept laughing. Riku stuck his tongue out at her before laughing himself then realized that this was so goofy!  
  
"Ok then," said Mariha after their laughing fit had died down, "Lets get to it. We only have five more days to find this light."  
  
"Right," replied Riku.  
  
They walked in a random direction then tried to figure out where they were.  
  
"Are we still in Kingdom Hearts?" asked Riku.  
  
"I have no idea," replied Mariha.  
  
Riku sighed and looked down. He wasn't watching where he was going so he didn't see the large thing until he bumped right into it and almost fell back.  
  
"Hey! Watch where you're -" began Riku but stopped as soon as he saw what he ran into. It was a largebody heartless.  
  
Riku and Mariha were frozen in their tracks as they were soon surrounded by heartless, too many to fight off.  
  
"Something tells me we're still in Kingdom Hearts," whispered Mariha.  
  
AN: Uh oh! What's going to happen? Heh heh, I'll leave you to ponder that for a while.. maybe a second or two... ok that's enough time so tell me, what happeneds? *jks* i already kno wut's gonna happen! :P yea, i'm prolly VERY annoying right now, but the lack of sleep by only getting 4 hours of it last night is making me insane... again *cough* well, R&R then! 


	9. Caught Like Flies

AN: Okey-day. Here's the next chapter... yea, I know your probably really REALLY annoyed by my pointless authors notes so I'll get to the point already (you got off easy this time ~.^)  
  
Disclaimers: How many times do I have to say it? I don't own anything! Every time I write a chapter and put this up is makes me feel more and more pathetic than before... o well, go my few OC's! *huggs Mariha, Natia, Naomi and Alee* *All: o.O*  
  
Caught like Flies  
  
Sora walked down one of the many halls in the enormous castle of Hollow Bastion. He strolled along, finally rid of Donald and Goofy for a while, until he came to a door.  
  
I don't remember this here before, he thought and reached to turn the knob.  
  
He walked inside. It was a study. There were books all over a small desk in the middle of the room. There was a big window behind it, right across from the door but its drawn curtains hid it. There were a few small couches and cushioned chairs close the surrounding walls.  
  
"What are you doing here?" said a familiar voice that caused Sora to jump.  
  
"Huh?" said Sora and stared at the person who had talked to him from in a corner.  
  
"You heard me," replied the person, "I thought you went home."  
  
Sora stared at that corner where there sitting on a tall stool was Cloud. The room was dim being only lit by a few candles on the desk and Cloud just looked like a shadow cast upon the wall.  
  
"Cloud?" said Sora in a sudden shock. He didn't know that Cloud had come here too with the others. But he quickly recovered himself to answer Clouds question. "I was going to go home, but there's one more thing I need to do first."  
  
Cloud nodded, "I see."  
  
There was a silence. Sora knew Cloud was the quiet type, but the silence always made Sora fidgety so he sat down on a nearby chair.  
  
"So," Sora began, looking for any way to strike up a conversation, "What are you doing here? Did you find who you were looking for yet?"  
  
Cloud showed no signs of hearing Sora and for a second Sora thought that he wouldn't reply.  
  
"Yes," he said finally.  
  
"That's good," said Sora and relaxed in his chair that was more like a one-person sofa.  
  
"Have you found who you were looking for?" asked Cloud in a sudden interest to continue the conversation.  
  
"I did," said Sora happily, "Her name is Kairi and she's back home on my island right now. I'm just waiting for Cid to install a gummi on our ship to take us there."  
  
Cloud nodded again, "Then what else do you have to do if you're going home but need something to do first?"  
  
"Well, that's kind of a long story," said Sora scratching his head.  
  
"I'm not going anywhere in a hurry," said Cloud.  
  
So Sora told him about how he needed to find Riku and his adventures in the Pride Lands. All through Sora's story Cloud listened without a word. He seemed to prefer listening rather then speaking and Sora was relived to be the one talking anyway.   
  
"I see," said Cloud when Sora had finished, "Well, I wish you good luck in finding you friend."  
  
He got up and headed for the door. Sora just sat, waiting for him to leave but then suddenly sprang up out of his seat.  
  
"Wait!" she said as Cloud opened the door to step outside, "Who were you looking for? Who did you find?"  
  
Cloud paused, but then looked directly at Sora. "Her name is Arieth."  
  
He continued through the door.  
  
Arieth, thought Sora in surprise, The same Arieth from Traverse Town? Crazy!  
  
Sora shrugged and looked around the room. When Donald burst through the door.  
  
"There you are!" he yelled. Yelling seemed to be his only means of speaking, "Cid's done!"  
  
"Ok, I'm coming," replied Sora.  
  
Donald snorted and stomped out and down the hall. Sora had to conceal his laughter and followed, carefully closing the door behind him.  
  
~*~  
  
Riku awoke to be welcomed with a throbbing headache. It took him a moment to focus his eyes to the light. It was very dim, lit by small flaming torches along the wall, but it still stung his eyes for a moment. When his eyes adjusted, he found himself in a small square room with three walls of stone. To his surprise, the fourth wall was open only there were steel vertical bars cutting off an escape. He was in a dungeon.  
  
Riku panicked. What had happened? Where was Mariha? The only thing he could see in his small cell was a slab of flat stone that stuck out of the wall with chains holding it up so it fashioned a kind of bed. Bed wasn't even a name appropriate for it; it was more like a 'sleeping place'.  
  
The light came from outside of Riku's cell leaving some of its corners completely hidden in the shadow. Riku looked hard and went over to them to make sure he wasn't missing anything, but Mariha wasn't there. He went to the metal bars and clung on to them while he looked out. Outside was a hall. There were other cells like his along the same wall his was on. But it was so dark that he couldn't see into them. But maybe Mariha was in one of them.  
  
"Mariha!" he called.  
  
No answer.  
  
"Mariha!" he called again, "Can you hear me?"  
  
Suddenly, a largebody appeared from around the corner. It walked strait to Riku, but he didn't notice it coming for he was looking the other way and was still calling for Mariha. It grabbed Riku's wrist. Riku jumped and cried out in surprise. He looked up at the large heartless. There was a long stare down then the largebody let go of Riku's wrist but struck him in the face, causing Riku to fall backwards.  
  
"I get it," said Riku mostly to himself, "No talking right?"  
  
He rubbed his ringing head where the largebody had hit him. Then the heartless strode off. Riku tried to shake the ringing out of his ears but it only resulted in creating a whooping headache again.  
  
Finally, after much pain and frustration, Riku crawled onto his so called bed and tried to fall asleep on the hard, cold surface.  
  
Maybe this is just a dream, he thought though he knew it wasn't. Still, the thought helped him settled down into sleep.  
  
~  
  
"He has awoken," said a deep voice in a strange language.  
  
"Good," replied a familiar bone chilling voice using the same language, "Does he know where he is or what happening?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Excellent."  
  
"Master," started the first voice, "What about the girl, he was calling for her."  
  
"I see." A dark figure could be seen pacing back and forth. He suddenly stopped and turned to the other large figure. "Bring him to me."  
  
"Right away." The large figure bowed and walked out of the room towards the dungeon.  
  
~  
  
Riku woke with a start. He sung his legs over the side of the stone so the dangled just above the floor. He looked over through the bars of his prison.   
  
I have to get out of here and find Mariha, he thought.  
  
Then, a largebody came up to Riku's cell. It unlocked the barred door and walked in. Riku sprang to his feet in defense. He went to grab his sword then realized it wasn't there.  
  
They must have taken it, thought Riku in anger. He cursed out loud. Still, he wasn't going without a fight.  
  
He jumped at the largebody, but his efforts at an attack failed miserably. The heartless just grabbed Riku by the waist and flung him over its shoulder. It held him down on it with one powerful arm and, try as he might, Riku couldn't squirm free.  
  
This is so embarrassing, he thought. Well, at least Mariha wasn't there to tease him. But as the largebody lead Riku through twisting halls and winding stairs, Riku changed his mind: Seeing Mariha now would be worth the humiliation.  
  
The largebody kept walking and walking. Riku probably wasn't being carried for long but he felt bored and almost fell asleep on top of the heartless' shoulder.  
  
Before Riku dozed off into sleep though, the largebody opened a door and dropped Riku on the floor; and wasn't careful about it. It then walked out the door and closed it with a bang.  
  
"Yea, thanks for the lift," Riku said sarcastically.  
  
He looked around him but the room was dark and Riku couldn't see a thing.  
  
"Ah, we meet again," said a chilling voice that sent shivers up Riku's spine. He'd recognize that voice anywhere.  
  
"Ansem show yourself!" Riku shouted, now on full alert.  
  
"As you wish," replied Ansem coolly. He snapped his fingers and instantly the room lit up.  
  
The sudden change of brightness blinded Riku for a second but got used to it quickly. He looked around but he couldn't see where all the light was coming from. He didn't notice Ansem walk up from behind him. Ansem put a hand on Riku's shoulder, which made Riku jump.  
  
"Jumpy are we?" said Ansem.  
  
"What do you want?" demanded Riku, "I told you to disappear from my life, and I'll never help you. No matter how much you tempt me or try to trick me. I'll never join you again."  
  
"O that's not why I brought you here," said Ansem with a grin, "But I do want something else from you."  
  
"O? And what would that be?" scoffed Riku, annoyed.  
  
Ansem walked around from behind Riku. He walked up to a large curtain and flung it open. Behind was a window that over looked the barren dark waist land of Kingdom Hearts. Ansem showed Riku no evidence that he wanted Riku to come over to the window, but some instinct told him to go to it. It was a feeling too strong for him to fight off.  
  
"Everlasting darkness," said Ansem when Riku looked out the window. Ansem didn't look at him but continued to stare out into the nothingness of Kingdom Hearts, "Except for fire, a natural element, there is no light. Fire isn't even a true source of light. Like that blue essence that you do not understand isn't a source of light though it glows. No, that and fire are just energy. Energy you can see. But light is more then that. And there is non here."  
  
Riku thought all of this was pretty pointless, thought at least he knew now what that glow was and answered why, if this was the land of darkness, fire was allowed to emit light. But as Ansem paused, Riku didn't say a word. He didn't know what to say.  
  
"'Look as hard as you are able. You'll no find even the smallest glimmer of light.' That is what I said to the Key bearer."  
  
Riku looked at Ansem in surprise. Why is he talking about Sora, he thought.  
  
Ansem didn't notice Riku's reaction and continued to speak. "But some how, he was right. The light over powered me when I opened the door to what I thought was darkness. But I'm trapped here now, so why do I see no light?"  
  
Ansem turned to Riku and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "You! You know where it is! Tell me where it is so I can rid of it and be free!" he yelled. There was a raging fire in his cat like eyes, a fire that wanted to kill.  
  
"What are you talking about" Riku yelled back and tried to free himself from Ansems grasp.  
  
"Where is the light?" said Ansem tightening his grip.  
  
"I don't know!" replied Riku, "I didn't even know about it!"  
  
Ansem stared Riku in the eye. His piercing yellow eyes searched for any sign to catch Riku off guard. Riku felt uneasy being watched so closely but those mad eyes.  
  
"You're lying," said Ansem in a whisper. He brought Riku's face close to his to search deeper within his eyes.  
  
Riku kept a straight face and stared back, eyes unblinking. "Prove it," he said coolly.  
  
Ansem grunted in aggravation and released Riku with a small shove. He walked away from the window and Riku watched, ready for him if he turned suddenly.  
  
"What would you like my dear boy?" asked Ansem saying it in the kindest sounding voice an evil mad man like him could muster. He spun around to face Riku but didn't take a step toward him, "Power, riches, or to go home. Yes, yes that's it! I'll send you home if you show me where you're hiding the light."  
  
Riku smiled sarcastically. "Didn't you hear what I said before? You can tempt me all you want but I'm not telling you anything."  
  
Ansem frowned in irritation but brushed if off and smiled smugly again. "But I could make it like old times," he said, "You, Kairi and Sora could all be happy together again."  
  
Riku shook his head.  
  
"For Kairi to be in love with you."  
  
Riku shook his head again.  
  
Ansem thought for a second.  
  
"Don't waist you time," said Riku simply, "Nothing you can offer will change my mind in helping you."  
  
"Ok my final offer," Ansem said at last.  
  
Riku sighed. "It doesn't matter," said Riku. This was such a waist of time. "I told you I don't know where it is. And even if I did, I still wouldn't tell you."  
  
"O I think you won't be able to resist," replied Ansem with a glint in his eye.  
  
Ansem waved his hand and an image of a six-year-old Riku appeared, and beside him, the girl named Naomi. But her face was hidden, thought Riku knew without a doubt it was her. But Ansem didn't know what she really looked like either, so it made sense.  
  
"That's right," said to Riku who was frozen with shock, "You tell me where the light is, and I'll give you you're little friend back."  
  
It was an offer Riku couldn't refuse. He wanted to see her so badly. He almost decided to do it. To tell Ansem that he'd go out and find the light for him if he would bring Naomi back.  
  
But he needed to shake the feeling off. He couldn't just help Ansem win, he wouldn't. Besides, even for Ansem, bringing someone back to life was an impossible task. No, Ansem was pulling his strings. Naomi was dead. Maybe it was supposed to be that way. Maybe this was all part of his destiny he used to always question.   
  
"No," he said finally.  
  
"What?" said Ansem in surprise.  
  
"I don't know where it is," Riku said firmly, "She's dead, no one can change that. Not even you."  
  
"You leave me no choice," replied Ansem, trying hard not to jump out and kill Riku on the spot. He pulled out a dagger and held it firmly in his right hand.  
  
"Kill me if you wish," said Riku standing perfectly still. Let him die. He didn't care anymore, "I'm not going to run."  
  
"Now, now, why would I kill you? Then you wouldn't be able to tell me where the light is," said Ansem, "No, I'd much prefer to kill her."  
  
He pointed to a table that appeared suddenly with the still body of Mariha lying on top.  
  
"Mariha!" said Riku in both relief and distress.  
  
"She can't here you!" said Ansem and laughed.  
  
"What did you do?" said Riku, his blood beginning to boil.  
  
Ansem walked up to Mariha. Riku tried to get there first, but for some reason he couldn't move. He looked down. His legs and arms were chained to the ground.  
  
"Ah, I see we've found you soft spot," Ansem teased.  
  
"Harm her and I'll rip you to pieces," said Riku in fury.  
  
Ansem chuckled and ran the flat edge of the daggers blade across Mariha's forehead. She didn't stir.  
  
"Leave her alone!" yelled Riku. He tried to move again but the chains stopped him from going anywhere.  
  
Ansem continued to drag the blade across Mariha's face. Obviously gleeful at Riku's enraged response. Eventually, he brought it down to stop at her throat with the blades edge against it.  
  
"Tell me where the light is!" commanded Ansem.  
  
"I don't know where it is!" cried Riku desperately.  
  
"Liar!"   
  
"No! I really don't know!"  
  
"I'll kill her."  
  
"Please don't!"  
  
Riku fell to his knees. Ansem looked at him for a moment. He stared emotionless at Riku's pleading eyes. Then, he looked at Mariha with a passion in his eyes that Riku thought Ansem could never posses.  
  
"A beautiful flower," said Ansem stroking Mariha's cheek gently with the back of his other hand, "It's a shame she'll go to waist."  
  
Riku gagged. Ansem was in love with Mariha!  
  
Suddenly Ansem raised the dagger.  
  
"Please stop!" cried Riku, forgetting everything.  
  
Ansem brought the dagger down but Riku couldn't bear it. He put his head down and shut his eyes. He couldn't handle to see him kill her. But there was nothing he could do. He really didn't know where the light was. But Ansem didn't believe him, so there'd be no stopping him.   
  
Riku still didn't look up when Ansem walked up to him and stuck him with the hilt of the dagger, knocking Riku out.  
  
~*~  
  
"What are you talking about?" said Sora, "How can you not know what it is?"  
  
"Sorry kid, this here gummi is something I've never seen before. It must be very rare," replied Cid.  
  
Sora sighed and took the gummi from Cid.  
  
"So, um, how are we going to get to Sora's island?" asked Goofy.  
  
Goofy looked at Donald but the duck shrugged.  
  
"Actually, come to think of it," started Cid, "There's one person that might know how to use it..."  
  
"Really! Where is he?" asked Sora eagerly. He couldn't wait to go home.  
  
"His name is Buzz and he lives in Andy's House," said Cid, "Here, you'll need this gummi to get there."  
  
"Thanks!" said Sora. He, Donald and Goofy said their goodbyes and left the castle. They border their gummi ship and set the course to a new world.  
  
AN: Done for now, I'll try and update more later.... Please review! (You can probably tell I'm not at ALL hyper today... *tear* isn't that sad?) 


	10. Lesson Learned

AN: ok sorry that took so long!!! I had such a crazy day yesterday XD and now my mouth hurts cuza my stupid braces!! *is dead* But enjoy the chapter then! O and u may noticed the rating has been changed from PG to PG-13 cuz there's some swearing and stuff.... This is what happens when I write after listening to Eminem o.O *Fans: hey I thought u were dead!* o yea *is dead again*  
  
Disclaimers: I really think you've gotten the message that I don't own anything really thought I'd love to! But my life is full of too much laziness to own anything. *Mariha: hey! Wut about us!* *Natia, Naomi and Alee nodd* umm, u guys were a cookie I ate gone bad... *all: o.O* ha! Jks! Ok just read....  
  
Lesson Learned  
  
Riku woke up in the same jail cell he had been in before. At least he thought it was the same one. If it wasn't, it looked exactly the same. He rubbed the back of his soar neck where the hard, blunt end of Ansems dagger hilt had hit him. As his head cleared, he started to remember what had happened. A heartless had carried him into a chamber, Ansem was there and... Mariha! No, what had happened to her?  
  
Riku jumped to his feet. He looked around but it did nothing because everything seemed darker than it had been before. Then, from the corner of his eye, Riku thought he saw something move in the far corner of the cell. He walked over to it cautiously.  
  
Without a weapon Riku raised his fists, ready for any sudden attack. He inched closer. It was so dark. Then, as Riku stood over the black figure, the slightest flicker of the torchlight enabled him to see what he was up against. It was Mariha!  
  
"Mariha?" said Riku, a bit confused. Why is she here now but not before? She didn't move. Riku panicked and remembered what Ansem had done. She was dead; he put her there to toy with Riku. Riku looked away, he could feel tears stinging the corner of his eyes.  
  
"Owwww," groaned Mariha suddenly, opening her eyes and getting up. "Huh?" She looked at Riku.  
  
"You're ok!" he exclaimed in shock. He flung his arms around her and hugged her close.  
  
"Um, ok... what's up?" asked Mariha, totally puzzled.  
  
Riku let go of her and she gave him a questioning look. Realizing what he had just done, Riku blushed so deeply that it was lucky for him that the lighting was so low. He looked down in embarrassment.  
  
"Hey what happened? Where are we?" asked Mariha not noticing Riku's face turning bight red and looked around. "Ouch!"  
  
Riku looked up. Mariha had her hand on her right cheek. "Where'd I get this?" she said. She took her hand away to show Riku. Her hand was covered in blood. Riku gasped and looked at her face. There on her cheek was a cut vertical to the floor from just below her eye down to her chin. It was a clean cut and kept bleeding.  
  
That's what Ansem must have done! That bastard sliced her cheek, thought Riku. Then a shock came over him, he really does lover her. So mush as to spare her life!  
  
"Here let me see," said Riku holding out his hand. He touched the cut gently.  
  
"Oww," said Mariha wincing and Riku pulled back.  
  
"Does it hurt a lot?" he asked.  
  
"A little," Mariha replied.  
  
Riku thought for a moment then remembered the handkerchief Mariha had giving him for his injury. He pulled it out of his pocket. So this was the reason he held back from giving it to her again, she needed it now.  
  
"Hold on," he said. Mariha nodded.  
  
Riku went over to the stone slab of a bed where beside it sat a little dish filled with water. He soaked the cloth in it. It couldn't be that clean, but it was better than nothing. He rung it out and called to Mariha.  
  
"Come on over here, there's more light."  
  
Mariha got up from where she had been sitting on the cold floor and sat cross-legged on the bed thing.  
  
"Now stay still for a second," Riku said. He took his wet hand and washed away the blood from Mariha's face. She winced in pain but Riku needed to ignore it so he could finish. He took the cloth and folded it up and pressed it gently against her cheek to cover the cut.  
  
"K, hold this in place until the bleeding stops," he said and moved his had away when she put hers up to hold it.  
  
"Yes Doctor!" she laughed. Riku still thought it amazing that she could be so joking at a time like this. It made him smile but hers soon vanished from her face. "Um, Riku?"  
  
"Yea?" he said sitting on the stone slab with his back against the wall and his hands behind his head.  
  
"What happened?" How'd we get here?" she asked. Riku flinched a little but Mariha didn't notice. He didn't want to have to explain it all. Just thinking about that grimy darkness-loving freak being in love with Mariha made him want to throw up.  
  
"Well it's kind of a long story..." said Riku for the lack of a better excuse.  
  
"It's not like we'll be going anywhere any time soon," replied Mariha with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.  
  
"O all right!" sighed Riku. There was no escaping it.  
  
So Riku told Mariha everything he could remember after their teleporting didn't work. The spell Ansem cast on her seemed to fry her memory for she didn't even remember when they bumped into those heartless well after they got dropped out of the teleporting vortex. He told her everything, everything except the fact that Ansem was in love with her. Riku figured that it would probably just freak her out he and still couldn't stand the thought of it either.  
  
"Ansem..." said Mariha quietly when Riku finished. Riku's heart skipped a beat. Did she remember? Did she remember Ansem calling her that 'flower' thing?  
  
"Ansem is the one who tricked me and turned me into that horrible demon isn't he?" she said softly with a saddened look on her face. She brought the cloth away from her face, which had stopped bleeding but left a red cut line across her cheek.  
  
Riku relaxed in relief that she didn't remember but looked at Mariha concerned. She sounded so sad. It was amazing how her feelings seemed to affect him. This sort of thing had never happened to him before.  
  
"Yea, it was," said Riku in an equally as small voice, "He also tricked me. To betray a friend in a hopeless attempt to save another..."  
  
"What?" said Mariha loudly in surprise that made Riku jump a little.  
  
"What, he didn't tell you? Figures..." said Riku, "I did betray my friend Sora, because I was trying to help my other friend Kairi who had lost her heart."  
  
Riku looked down in shame so his eyes were hidden in the shadows. Mariha listened without a sound. It was so hard, so why was he doing it? It was so hard to remember, it hurt to.  
  
"Back on my island Sora, Kairi, and I we're all good friends. But one day, something happened that changed our lives.  
  
"The heartless had connected with our world and soon it was plunged into darkness. I thought I was a way off the tiny island I sometimes considered a prison, a chance to see the outside worlds. I took that chance and fell into the darkness.  
  
"I was transported to a world unknown to me. I searched for Sora and Kairi but couldn't find them. Finally, I bumped into Sora in Traverse Town. I was surprised to see that he had changed so mush since I saw him last.  
  
"He had two new friends. And, he hand what was called the Keyblade. It was a weapon to use against the heartless and could seal the heart of a world to prevent the heartless from over running it. So he was supposedly some sort of big hero. I was jealous, certain that such a power should be mine, not his. After all, I was the stronger one back on our island. So when he chose to stick with his new friends rather than me, I fled out of sight.  
  
"I was then approached by Maleficent, a witch who used the heartless. She convinced me that Sora no longer cared for me as a friend and he was too caught up in being the hero he had always dreamed of being. She offered me a deal. I help her get what she wants and pay no heed to Sora, and I get what I want, Kairi.  
  
"Maleficent had wanted me to get her the seven princesses of heart so she could open the final door to darkness. I got six. Kairi was the seventh. But she had lost her heart, and without it, the door would never open by now I was so deep in the darkness that I didn't care about Kairi for her safe being, but for her heart to open the door. I was possessed by Ansem.  
  
"The only way for Kairi to get her heart back was to find it. And I did. Sora and her hand such a strong love for each other that some how Kairi's heart was a part of Soras. So we fought. He won. But he sacrificed himself to give Kairi her heart back. Then Ansem used my defeated body to re-create his own. Aware of my mistakes, I was able to hold Ansem off so Kairi could escape.  
  
"Sora was turned into a heartless. He caught up with Kairi and because she cared so much about him, he returned. He then went off to defeat Ansem. I was lost in the darkness. I was so jealous because the Keyblade, it WAS destined to be mine. But when I joined the darkness to escape my island, it chose Sora instead. So after Sora defeated Ansem, he and King Mickey used their Keyblades to seal Kingdom Hearts. Mickey and I were both trapped inside but Mickey found a way to escape. I was fighting the Cerberus remember?"  
  
"I remember," said Mariha nodding, then viciously adding, "If it hadn't been for me you'd be dead!"  
  
Riku laughed, "O yea, did I ever thank you for that?"  
  
Suddenly Mariha leaned against Riku's chest and closed her eyes. Riku blushed a bit and froze. What was he supposed to do?  
  
"Thank you for letting me know the truth," she said.  
  
"No problem," replied Riku relaxing a little. But Mariha was fast asleep. Then he suddenly felt a wave of sleepiness come over him. He yawned.  
  
He had just done something that he had never done, had been afraid of doing; facing his past. All through his childhood, if he did something to terribly wrong that no forgiveness could come upon him, he'd concentrate all his energy into blocking it form his memory. Making it seem like it never happened, it didn't exist. That was probably why he remembered so little from his childhood. The only things he could remember were hanging around with Sora, but everything before the age of six was a blur, an empty hole.  
  
He had after all blocked out Naomi's existence because he was so ashamed, ashamed and angry with himself for letting her drown. That was something he could never forgive himself for doing. Now, when he wanted to know, all he had were dreams. Come to think of it, why was he having these dreams all of a sudden? Maybe it was this place, Kingdom Hearts, where all hearts were born. So maybe that affected him somehow.   
  
But he would now learn from his mistakes in the past rather than block them out. He couldn't run from them forever. No, he'd stop blocking out things he was ashamed of from his memory. He had already started. There was no way he was going to forget this journey. With a last little chuckle, he fell asleep  
  
~*~  
  
Sora didn't know how long he'd been sitting there in their ship thinking, but suddenly he felt a big thump. Had they landed already? Yep, sure enough when Sora looked out the window, their ship had landed in a new world.  
  
"Hey, how long did that take?" asked Sora.  
  
"Not long at all really, we practically took off 2 minutes ago," replied Donald.  
  
Wow, nice going Cid, thought Sora as he stepped outside and looked over the ship. Not only had he made it faster, but there were better weapons on it, as well as a better navigational system.  
  
Sora was so busy checking out the new upgrades on the ship that he didn't realize where they had landed.  
  
"A-a-ah, Sora?" stammered Donald from behind Sora.  
  
"Yea? O man! Have you seen what Cid did to the gummi ship!" said Sora without turning around, "It's so awesome!"  
  
"S-S-Sora!" Goofy said in the same stuttery voice.  
  
"Hey? What's up with you two?" said Sora slowly turning around towards them, "You sound like you've seen a -"   
  
Sora was stopped short for as soon as he turned around and saw what Donald and Goofy were talking about; he almost had a heart attack himself. There, standing over them was a giant wiener dog.  
  
"Monster," finished Sora in a small voice.  
  
~*~  
  
It had been a while since Riku had dreamt of her. He hadn't dreamt of Naomi since the day he found out she had died out on the water. But there they were, making sand sculptures on the beach.  
  
Riku and Naomi laughed together as they tried to figure out what the other had made. Riku was back in his six-year-old body and couldn't remember the last time he'd had so much fun.  
  
"Um, it kinda looks like a seahorse," said Naomi, "Can you guess mine?"  
  
Riku looked at the sculpture in front of her. It started out as a starfish then, suddenly the sand started shifting. It shifted around until it formed a face he knew all to well. Ansem. His face in the sand smiled wide and jumped up to reveal Ansem in the flesh. Riku could only stare as Ansem rose his arms and everything turned black; the sun, the sky, the sand and the ocean. With all the darkness, Ansem began to grow lager and larger until Riku was only the size of his thumb.  
  
"Riku!" screamed Naomi and Riku watched in horror as Ansem snatched her up into an enormous hand. The last thing Riku saw of her were two terror stricken eyes he would never forget before Ansem crushed her into darkness.   
  
"Naomi!" cried Riku and awoke. He was panting and it felt like his life had been sucked out of him for a second.  
  
"Who is she?" said a small voice from a dark corner. It was Mariha, "I've heard that name before."  
  
"I don't remember who she is," said Riku truthfully, "She keeps appearing in my dreams."  
  
Riku didn't want to tell Mariha about Naomi. Not yet anyways. What would she think of him if she knew he had let his own best friend down? No Riku, he thought, this is what happened when you didn't tell her about Sora and the others... But he wouldn't tell her. No, he couldn't. Besides, he still didn't know a lot about her anyway.  
  
"O," was all Mariha said. She moved her gaze from Riku onto the floor and began drawing on it with her finger. Riku couldn't tell if she believed him or not because she wasn't showing any signs of it. Actually, she wasn't showing any signs of anything. She seemed to be distracted by something.   
  
Riku looked to the floor where Mariha was dragging her finger back and forth but didn't see her trying to draw anything in particular. It was like she was totally cut-off from the world around her and was in a world of her own, lost within her mind.  
  
Riku looked to her with a saddened face but then remembered something that caused him to jump to his feet. His sudden movement caught Mariha's attention and she glanced his way. She seemed to snap out of her little trance.  
  
"Ah shit!" swore Riku loudly.  
  
"What's wrong king of the poo?" asked Mariha jokingly herself again. Well that got her attention, thought Riku and gave her a ha-ha-very-funny-o-and-you-know-that-I'm-saying-this-sarcastically look.  
  
"How are we supposed to get out of here?" he said, back to the point, "We need to meet Sora in four days and we're stuck here!" He groaned in frustration.   
  
Maybe all that thinking was taking a toll on his brain. He sat back down on the cells bed and held his head up with his hands, trying to clear his head from a sudden panic that they'd never get to Sora in time. He didn't notice Mariha walk over to him and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Don't worry," she said softly, "We'll both get out of here and you'll go home. We'll figure something out, we always do."  
  
"I hope your right," said Riku thought he didn't know how much hope he had left.  
  
"Hey! Since when have you questioned my awesome knowledge and skill?" said Mariha posing as if she were in front of a camera.  
  
"Since you messed up on that teleporting thing," Riku slyly replied. Mariha shot him a playful glare.  
  
"You want more?" he said in return for that look, "There was also that time when you -"  
  
"Yea, yea, we get the point!" cut-off Mariha and she ruffled his hair.  
  
"Hey! Watch it!" he said shooing her off. Mariha laughed and Riku tried to fix his messed up hair. They both laughed as Riku's efforts to straighten out the mess only resulted in making the matter worse. Then, they fell silent immediately as a loud thud came from down the corridor. They waited in silence as the footsteps got closer and closer. Finally, a figure stopped at Riku and Mariha's cell. It was Ansem, and two Fire bandit heartless followed him.  
  
"You," said Riku. He was fed up with Ansems little games, "What do you want you creep!"  
  
"Just wanted to say hello," said Ansem causally.  
  
Riku had such a loathing towards Ansem that he couldn't control. He charged at Ansem and tried to grab him through the bars of his prison. Ansem easily avoided the assault.   
  
"What do you want with us!" demanded Riku and spit at the tall man. Ansem calmly walked up to Riku and grabbed his wrist with great agility. He grasped them tightly and leaned down to stare Riku straight in the eye.  
  
"Like I said," Ansem replied, keeping his voice calm, "I just came to say hello." He looked over at Mariha and she shrunk back into a corner when his yellowy eyes fell on her. Riku saw that and tried to hit Ansem right in his face but, as if he sensed the boy's anger, Ansems grip tightened slightly. Riku forced himself not to call out in pain as Ansems grip on him was cutting off his circulation. Then Ansem leaned down further to whisper in Riku's ear, "And to say goodbye."  
  
He released Riku who grasped his wrists, rubbing them to get the blood moving again. As Riku did this he didn't take his eyes of Ansem, nor did he take them off Riku. Finally, Ansem turned to the two heartless behind him. "Take him."  
  
Frantically, Riku tried to run to Mariha, but the big heartless were fast for their size. Just as Riku's hand was about to grab Mariha's hand but the heartless grabbed him just before he could grasp it. The other Fire bandit went over to Mariha and caught her as well.  
  
"Mariha!" he called.  
  
"Riku!" she called back. They were both hopelessly caught.  
  
Riku was then carried away down the passageway and when they were out of sight, Mariha was released and the heartless followed the others. They had taken him. They had taken Riku.  
  
AN: hey u notice how I'm very good at having really long AN's and even a long disclaimer thing? Lol cuz I have no life XD ok enough of my wallowing in self-pity... R&R!! And BTW, thanks SOOOO much everyone for the encouraging reviews for my story!! You guys are the greatest! ^-^ 


	11. The Plight of Riku

AN: Ok, this is a little bit of a gory chapter... don't exactly know how it ended up like that but o well! Read on if you dare ~.^  
  
Disclaimers: Same as the other 10 chapters... I only made up Mariha, Natia, Naomi and Alee for this story, nothing else... well, maybe the plot too! :P  
  
The Plight of Riku  
  
"Hurry!" called Donald to Sora as the giant dog chased them around the room.  
  
"What-does-it-look-like-I'm-doing?!" yelled Sora frantically. The dog was right behind him. It barked gleefully and licked Sora on the back.  
  
"AHH!!!" cried a drool covered Sora. He stopped running, totally out of breath.  
  
"Sora! Look out!" yelled Goofy who had found a hiding spot under something with Donald.  
  
"Down boy!" called a voice.  
  
The dog immediately sat down obediently. Sora was right at the paws of the dog. Then, the person who must have called out to the dog to sit walked over to Sora and helped him up.  
  
"Sorry about that," he said holding out an arm to help Sora to his feet, "he just wanted to play."  
  
"No problem," said Sora lamely for the lack of anything better to say. His helper was a cowboy with a hat and boots and everything. "Um, who are you?"  
  
"O, pardon me! My name is Woody," said the cowboy.  
  
"Hi, I'm Sora."  
  
"Nice to meet you Sora. Hey, do you think we could continue this in Andy's Room?" asked Woody.  
  
"Ok," replied Sora. At least they new they were in the right world. A place with Andy's Room must be Andy's House. "Hey Donald, Goofy, get over here!"  
  
After some quick introductions, Woody jumped up onto the back of the dog that sat there and waited patiently.  
  
"Come on up!" he said, "Don't worry, it's safe. And it's the fastest way up to Andy's room  
  
"Um, ok," said Sora, a bit uneasy about riding a giant dog that tried to turn him into a chew-toy moments before. But he didn't want to argue so he got up on the dogs back and sat behind Woody. Goofy and Donald, with a little coaxing, then followed.  
  
As the dog carried them through rooms and down halls, Sora began to realize that everything seemed to be gigantic. The furniture and rooms were so big that compared to the dog, the dog was nothing more then a little puppy. When they reached the foot of the stairs, Sora gazed up at a mountain.  
  
What's going on, he thought. Why was everything so big? Finally, they reached Andy's room after the dog loped up the mountain of some stairs. The dog let them off then went out the door. Sora, Goofy, and Donald followed Woody onto the huge bed in the even larger room.  
  
"He Slink! Can you close the door for us?" called Woody toward the big bedroom door. Sora looked around but he didn't see anybody.  
  
"No problem Woody!" said a voice. Sora looked down. There on the floor by the door was a dog, Sora's size, which walked over to the door and pushed it shut. The only thing about this dog was that it had, to Sora's surprise, instead of a body, his head and forepaws were connected to his tail and back paws by a silver metal spring.   
  
"Ah!" called Sora in surprise. Now he defiantly knew something was wrong. A giant dog? Giant rooms? And now a springy toy dog? Toy! thought Sora.  
  
"What's wrong Sora?" asked Woody.  
  
"A-a-a," stuttered Sora, "Ah, Woody?"  
  
"Yes?" Woody.  
  
"Are we shrunken down to toy size?" said Sora.  
  
"What? O! I'm so sorry; I forgot that since you might come from a different world you wouldn't be used to this. But yes, you are toy size and we are the toys of Andy's Room," explained Woody. As he spoke, Donald and Goofy noticed other toys emerging from under the bed, out of cupboards, toy boxes, and anywhere else a toy could be put.  
  
"So if you're not a toy, then what are you doing here?" Woody thought aloud.  
  
"We're looking for someone named Buzz," said Donald.  
  
"Buzz!" exclaimed Woody, "Well why didn't you say so! I can take you to him."  
  
"Great!" said Sora, "Lets go!"  
  
"Um, but there is one small problem," said Woody.  
  
"O, what's that?" asked Sora.  
  
"Well it's kind of hard to explain," Woody said scratching his head, "But here, I'll show you what I mean."  
  
Woody motioned them to follow. They followed him off the bed and to the door. Woody opened it a crack and peered out.  
  
"Hey Slink, can you pass me that marble?" Woody called to the slinky toy dog. The other toy brought over a marble the size of Sora's head and Woody tossed it into the hallway.  
  
At first Sora didn't see anything. He didn't know what they were looking for but suddenly, he saw it. A black spot appeared on the floor. It slowly grew into a solid form as about five other black figures joined it to inspect the marble. Sora stared in awe.  
  
"Heartless..." he whispered.  
  
~*~  
  
The Fire bandit roughly dragged Riku into a dark room.  
  
"Let me go you big lug!" he yelled but the heartless ignored him. It continued its task in locking Riku's wrists to a pair of shackles on a chain that came down from the unseen ceiling of the room.  
  
Riku struggled, but the large heartless kept a firm grip on him. When it had finished and left the room, Riku's hands were chained in such a way that as he stood straight up, his arms still were pulled up over his head. The room he was in was totally pitch black save the small shred of light coming from the door where the Fire bandit was now waiting outside.  
  
"Ansem!" he yelled, "I've had enough of this! Come out of the dark you coward!"  
  
Riku was replied by a mocking laugh.  
  
"You foolish boy," Ansem said stepping into the little bit of light so Riku could just make out his tall figure, "You should have joined me when you had the chance. Now you shall pay for the mishaps you have caused me! I thought you would like to be by my side once again, but I was wrong about you all along. You are a nothing. An ant that I'm about to crush!"  
  
Ansem laughed again. "Now, tell me where the light is and I may spare you pathetic life." He took out a whip and cracked it loudly, making it clear that he was not playing around.  
  
Riku's eyes were hidden in the shadows and there was a moment of silence. Then, he began to laugh. Quietly, as if just to himself at first, then louder until his voice echoed through the darkness.  
  
"What's so funny?" demanded Ansem clearly not seeing anything for Riku to laugh about.  
  
"You still think I'll tell you?" said Riku as if it were some sort of joke, "You say that you could kill me at any instant. But I'm still here. You won't kill me because I'm the only one who might tell you where this light is. The only possible way you could get it out of me would be through Mariha. You know that I have no value for my own life, but you can't hurt her."  
  
Riku glared at Ansem and for a moment, the lord of darkness felt uneasy being stared at with those eyes from the sea.  
  
"Because you love her."  
  
Ansem growled and clenched a fist.  
  
"You love her so much that you can't bring yourself to harm her," continued Riku, "Ha! You'd rather have her than rule all other worlds? Wow, am I seeing a soft spot on our tough Ansem?" he teased.  
  
But Ansem had heard enough. He cracked his whip loudly as the end hit Riku across the face.  
  
"Silence!" he roared.  
  
Riku felt the burning sting of the whip against his face. He bit on his lip to prevent himself from crying out. Now it was Ansems turn to laugh.  
  
"O I'm sorry," he said sarcastically, "Did that hurt? Here, let me help you feel better!"  
  
He cracked his whip again, this time across Riku's back. Riku cried out in pain as the whips lashing end cut right through his flesh, leaving blood streaming down the cut. The pain was so overwhelming and Riku coughed though he found it hard to breath.  
  
"Had enough already?" said Ansem menacingly. He lashed at Riku again, then again, then again. He continued to whip at him over and over, every time cutting through clothes and flesh. Every time making Riku to cry in pain as it rushed through him endlessly. Ansem didn't stop though, he kept going until the pain was too much and caused Riku to loose all sense of time and place. All he knew was the burning pain is his back that never ended.  
  
Riku cried out again as Ansem lashed him, but then he stopped. Riku hardly noticed though. The pain still stuck with him and rushed into his head, flooding it until he thought it would burst. He practically dangled from the chain above and his shirt was in shreds in the back. He hung there panting for air as his blood dripped and drenched him. He felt as if he was burning over an open flame, his face all sweaty and pale.  
  
Ansem walked over to Riku's bowed head and lifted it up by grabbing the boys silvery hair. "Where is the light?" he said.  
  
Riku's eyes met Ansems but they just stared into space, looking right through him. All the pain Riku felt was too much and he was totally unaware of what was happening around him. He was lost in a world of tourcher within his own head. Riku continued panting for air then began to cough. He coughed so hard that he coughed up blood. It sprayed out his mouth onto the floor as some ran down his chin. Ansem let go of Riku with a shove in disgust. Riku let his head fall, bowed over like a rag dolls.  
  
"Take him to his cell with the girl!" Ansem ordered in that strange language to the Fire bandit that had been waiting at the door. The heartless bowed and proceeded to remove the shackles from Riku's wrists. It then threw his limp body over its shoulder and carried him down into the dungeon.  
  
Riku didn't notice that he had been released from the chains. He didn't notice the heartless carry him down into the dungeon. He was completely dazed by the loss of blood and the stinging of his bloody body. He didn't even notice himself being dropped in his cell again. He only began to become aware of what was happening when he heard a voice call his name.  
  
"Riku!" he heard Mariha say in horror.  
  
"Ma -ri -ha," he managed to stutter, looking up and her blurry figure over him from where he lay on the floor.  
  
"What did he do to you?" she said, her voice shaky and fearful. "Riku..." She began to cry, tears streaming down her cheeks.  
  
Riku slowly raised his arm to wipe away her tears, but halfway there he faltered. Before his hand fell back down to his side, Mariha caught it and held it tight.  
  
"O Riku," she said speechlessly and closed her eyes, "Please, you can't die. You just can't! Not now, not ever!"  
  
"I-I'm still here..." he forced himself to say in a whisper. He smiled weakly.  
  
"I know..." answered Mariha quietly. She didn't know what she would do without him. How could she escape and search for this light without him when she didn't even really know what it is?  
  
"Mariha..." Riku struggled to say, his voice now so quiet that it could barely be heard, "Mariha..."  
  
"Yes what is it? I'm here," said Mariha looking down at him.  
  
"I-I..." Riku's head swam in dizziness, "I..."  
  
"What?" Mariha said desperately, gripping Riku's hand tighter. But he couldn't reply. He passed out from the lack of blood.  
  
"Please make it," she prayed. She raised her hands holding Riku's to her heart and closed her eyes, "I couldn't live without you."  
  
~*~  
  
"That's crazy!" exclaimed Woody after Sora had explained to him about the heartless and Sora's journeys to stop them, "I mean, I had no idea all these things had been going on. Although I don't really have any idea of what goes on at all outside of Andy's House..."  
  
"Yea, I know what you mean," said Sora, "My island was totally cut off from other worlds until the heartless connected with it."  
  
"But why are the heartless here?" asked Goofy, "Shouldn't they have all disappeared when we sealed Kingdom Hearts?"  
  
"Maybe they were here from before, you know? And never left because no one has fought them off yet," said Sora with a little shrug.  
  
"Anyways," said Woody to change the subject, "I'd love to take you to Buzz, but Andy left him somewhere in the house and we can't go anywhere with all those heartless out there!"  
  
"Well gwarsh don't ya have weapons to fight the heartless with?" asked Goofy.  
  
Woody thought for a moment. "O wait!" he said excitedly, "I think I have something." He ran to a toy box and began searching through it, throwing a thing or two out to see the bottom. Finally, Woody emerged. "Found it!" he said triumphantly.   
  
Sora, Donald and Goofy gathered around Woody as he held up a rope lasso for them to see.  
  
"I never actually thought of using it until just now," admitted the toy cowboy.  
  
"Ok, then let's go find Buzz already!" said Sora. Woody nodded and they all went out Andy's bedroom door to face the awaiting heartless.  
  
"Good luck!" shouted Slink from the small crack in the doorway. "You're going to need it..."  
  
AN: I have a sad announcement for you: unfortunately, I'm going on holidays for the week so I won't be able to update until next Monday. I'm very very sorry for this guys but it can't be helped! *ladies from 'Dude Where's my Car?': We are not guys, we are hot chicks* o.O um anywho, u'll see more updates next week! Gomen gomen gomen!!! *Bows* Dewa Mata (See ya!) 


	12. Choices of Destiny

AN: Ok, sorry again that it took so long to get this up! X_x Yea, I'll try to type a lot more this week, but it might not be as fast as before because my brother now uses the computer o.O thanks for you're patience! (to the fans who are still here)  
  
Disclaimers: I no owny Kingdom Hearts, Square Soft or Disney! (but I plan to steal them and take over the world!!! *Silence, except for the chirping crickets* um... cough... *jks*)  
  
Choices of Destiny  
  
Mariha didn't know what else to do but to sit at Riku's side. She had lugged him over to the platform bed and tried to make him as comfortable as she could. She wished she had something to help him more, but when he awoke, seeing her face was all he really needed.  
  
"You're ok!" he said and started to get up from off his stomach. He couldn't remember anything from before they were separated and he assumed that Ansem might have tried to hurt her. But as he got up, Mariha shoved him back down.  
  
"Don't get up," she said, not meeting his gaze, "You've lost a lot of blood. You're lucky to be alive you know."  
  
Riku frowned sorrowfully. It was all coming back to him. That dark room, and the horrible burning sting of the leather whip cutting into his back. He didn't know how bad he really looked when the Fire bandit brought him back to Mariha, but he realized that she must of thought him dead. It wasn't his fault of course but Mariha was obviously upset about it. Or was it something else?  
  
"I, um, didn't know..." he trailed off, at a loss for words.   
  
Mariha didn't reply. Instead, she silently took her dampened handkerchief and dabbed it on his still blood stained back. The cloth was cool against his throbbing back and he couldn't help but sigh in relief when it touched him. As she worked, her eyes were hidden from Riku in the shadows and he couldn't see the expression on her face.  
  
"Mariha," he said as sternly as he could but still in a soothing, reassuring tone of voice, "Please don't be angry... this just isn't you." He looked at her closely, looking for a sign of something from her, anything, but she kept quiet.  
  
"I didn't mean to upset you, you know that right?" he said closing his eyes. He needed to snap her out of it. Mariha was never like this. What had gotten into her? He didn't know how much time passed by while he waited for a reply. He wouldn't say anything else until she did reply. But suddenly, he didn't feel the cooling cloth on his back.  
  
"I know," said Mariha. Riku opened his eyes and slowly leaned up to sit on the platform. Mariha didn't push him down again this time but sat there looking at the ground fighting back sobs, "But he was so close, so close to killing you. What if he does tries again? He's gotten us for good Riku. Ansem has us right where he wants us."  
  
"That's not true!" said Riku stubbornly. He'd NEVER admit defeat to Ansem, EVER!  
  
"It is," replied Mariha looking up at him. There were no tears but he could tell she was holding them back as hard as she could, "It's too late Riku. Ansem has already won."  
  
"Since when did you start giving up!" said Riku probably louder than he should have. She just stared into his eyes, as if everything he said didn't matter, like her mind was made up and could not be altered. But Riku wasn't giving up on her or to Ansem, "This isn't the Mariha I know! Wake up!"  
  
"Riku," said Mariha, ignoring his last comment, "You don't understand! Ansem said -" she faltered, as if she couldn't bring herself to continue. She grimaced and Riku thought for a moment that she wouldn't tell him, but she finally brought herself to say it.  
  
"Ansem said," she continued, "That... he-he loved me and he was going to marry me and kill you!" she rushed past the word love that it took a second for Riku to realize what she had said.  
  
He was dumfounded. He so badly wanted to forget about hearing that. Forget that his worst enemy was in love with his currently only friend. Somehow, he didn't know how, he was able to force out a reply. "Do you really believe him?"  
  
Mariha nodded in shame. "I didn't really at first though, thought it was all some sort of joke, a trick. But the way he looked at me..." Mariha shuddered, "Then I saw you and you looked like you were dead and it also just hit me. He could have easily gotten whatever he wanted out of you by me but he hasn't laid a finger one me."  
  
Riku gave her a questioning look. Mariha realized what he meant and quickly corrected herself. "Well, practically not a finger." She brought her hand to her cut cheek and tear began to pour them selves down her face. She gave in and buried her face in Riku's chest. He would've blushed and felt uneasy again, if it hadn't been for her hiccupping sobs. He soothed her as best he could, but he really had never done something like this before so he didn't really know what to do.  
  
"Don't worry," he said for the lack of anything else to say, "It's alright."  
  
"No it's now!" said Mariha crying harder. "Riku," she said in a whisper, "You have to leave me."  
  
"What! Why?" he said startled. He pried Mariha off of him so he could looker her in the face, "Why?" he said again.  
  
"Because if you don't Ansem will kill you!" cried Mariha.  
  
"Oh no he won't," said Riku, "He can't, he needs me to tell him where the light is."  
  
"He can and he will!" argued Mariha, "He almost did yesterday!"  
  
"Yesterday?" said Riku puzzled, "Did all that really happen yesterday?"  
  
Mariha nodded. "And I heard him myself. He came down here while you were sleeping, he thought I was sleeping too but I heard him."  
  
Mariha had to stop as more tears flooded from her eyes. "He said that he'd just find the light on his own. That he -he'd... kill you today and marry me after!"  
  
Mariha stuck to Riku again to hug him. He was frozen in shock. She had never acted like this before. She was always so happy! And she never let him see her cry, if she could. This was so unlike her. What was happening here? But her whimpers reminded him of what she had just told him. She was right. There was no way to escape from Ansem. Not this time.  
  
So this is it, he thought, This is the end?  
  
~*~  
  
Sora had lost count of how many heartless attacked them there in that hallway. It took them forever to finally get through and got down the steep stairs. And the heartless they fought were harder to beat as well. They weren't the little shadow heartless that took one hit and were defeated. They almost looked like shadows though, same jet black body that could melt into the ground and same glowing yellow eyes, but they were taller and their antenna were longer. They had a more humanly shape as well. They were called Neos, and they were much stronger than the shadows, or any other heartless Sora had fought before for that matter.  
  
"I still think that the heartless should have all disappeared after I sealed the door to Kingdom Hearts," said Sora, "So why are they still appearing here?"  
  
There was a long silence as everyone thought about Sora's question. Finally, Donald spoke up.  
  
"I know!" he said, "You sealed the Door to darkness, but you haven't opened the Door to the light! You need to do both for the heartless to disappear."  
  
"O, I get it!" said Sora. Then he made a confused little frown, "But, the door to the light I'm opening for Riku is the door to Kingdom Hearts, the one I just sealed..."  
  
Donald blinked, speechless.  
  
"So, you sealed the door to Kingdom Hearts only to open it again?" asked Woody, puzzled as well as the others.  
  
"Um... I guess," said Sora thought it made no sense to him, "O well, I guess we'll just do whatever as we go along, wing it you know!"  
  
Sora grinned but Donald kept looking at him, unsure about the whole thought of undoing what they worked so hard to do.  
  
"Ok, well, we better keep going before more heartless show up," said Woody and then followed him toward the Study.   
  
"We've got three days to go home, so lets do this!" said Sora as more heartless appeared and prepared to attack.  
  
~*~  
  
Riku couldn't believe it. All this time, they searched for a way out of Kingdom Hearts, only to be captured by Ansem. But Mariha was right, there was no escape, Ansem had finally gotten them, Ansem had won. He was in total and complete control of their lives, their futures.  
  
"How," said Riku, "How couldn't this happen?"  
  
"Riku..." said Mariha quietly. "There is one other way, but you have to choose." She shook all over as she fought off the sobs.  
  
"Mariha? What are you talking about?" asked Riku. He couldn't see how any choice of his could save them.  
  
"When you spoke to Sora," she began, "Did he ask you to go home with him? Back to your island?"  
  
"Well yea," said Riku, still not seeing how it related with their current situation, "But I couldn't go, I couldn't just leave you after I promised to show you my island."  
  
"You have to go," Mariha replied.  
  
"What? No way! I can't -"  
  
"You must," cut in Mariha, "Riku listen, you have to try and connect with Sora again, but this time, you have to leave with him."  
  
"Are you crazy! I can't leave you hear with -with... him," argued Riku, "Besides, how do you know this will work or why did you only think of this now?"  
  
"I had a dream, a vision, it told me this was going to happen," explained Mariha desperately, "It told me if you connected with Sora again you could leave with him. It has something to do with the stars like that... I don't really get it but it said you could if you chose to. And it will only work within... a few minutes after I tell you, which is now."  
  
"Now your just confusing me," said Riku, "You can't expect me to just -"   
  
"Don't you understand!" yelled Mariha and pushed him away from her so she could stand and look down at him, "If you don't leave, Ansem will kill you and he will win. You're the only one who can save Kingdom Hearts and destroy Ansem for good! I know Sora is the Key bearer, but it's you're destiny to finished off what Sora has started! If you're dead, then fate will change, for the worse no doubt. Please!"  
  
"No," said Riku, emotionless expression on his face. He stood up and grabbed Mariha's shoulders and made sure she looked right into his eyes that drew closer, "I can't go, I promised that I wouldn't leave you on your own remember? And I have no intention of breaking that promise."  
  
Mariha shook her head, "I'd rather be alone and know you're alive then have you stay for a few moments longer and be killed by Ansem."  
  
"A promise is a promise," Riku replied firmly.  
  
"Please!" begged Mariha, "Go! I know you promised all those things, but I don't need to see them, to see you're island! I have nothing to expect, nothing to look forward to. You've been to the outside worlds, I haven't; you have a home, I don't; you have friends waiting for you, and I'm alone."  
  
Riku felt like he wanted to cry as well as he stared into Mariha's pleading eyes. But he couldn't give in, he wouldn't. More tears burst from them but she kept her voice steady.  
  
"You don't belong here, you belong on you're island, just as I don't belong there, I belong here."  
  
Suddenly, there was a thud, the sound of heavy footsteps coming towards them. Ansem no doubt to finish off Riku, or so he said.  
  
"Hurry, they're coming!" cried Mariha. She hugged Riku tightly and couldn't help but cry, "Hurry, if he touches you it won't work!"  
  
"A promise is a promise," Riku said quietly. They were almost at the cell door.  
  
"Please Riku!"  
  
They were opening the lock.  
  
"No, I choose to stay!" said Riku loudly, but the ones who started opening the door didn't seem to hear him at all, "That's my choice, you said I have to choose, so I just did. I can't go; I won't."  
  
Ansem and his heartless slaves walked right into the jail cell. A Largebody and a Fire Bandit pulled Riku away from Mariha, one holding to each of his arms, as Ansem himself grabbed Mariha and held one of her wrists tightly. Mariha and Riku, they both struggled but could not break the grasp of their captors. Just before they were separated completely from each other, Riku leaned to whisper in Mariha's ear: "I'll be ok, don't worry. I'm coming back to get you."   
  
"It's quite a shame you'll be missing my wedding," Ansem said to Riku who just glared at him.  
  
"Is it now?" replied Riku in a mocking tone.  
  
Ansem grinned slyly then brought Mariha to face him. Mariha squealed as he bent down and kissed her mouth. Riku growled in anger and tried to rush at Ansem but the large heartless' held him firmly. When Ansem released Mariha from his kiss, she spat on the floor in disgust.  
  
"Take him away," ordered Ansem casually. The two guards holding him obeyed and dragged Riku down out the jail cell and down the corridor. "I'll be back for you darling," Ansem said to Mariha. He let go of her and followed the heartless and their prisoner out of the dungeon, slamming the cell door behind him. Mariha ran to the bars and held on to them, watching them disappear into the dark hallway. Her tears had stopped coming, but they were still wetting her face.  
  
"Riku!"  
  
Her voice echoed off the walls of the deserted, dark dungeon.  
  
~*~  
  
When Sora, Woody, Donald and Goofy finally got into the study, they looked up at the cliffs of bookshelves crammed full of huge, think books. There was a giant chair and desk in the middle of the room. Up on the desk, Sora could see a toy that looked like some sore of space explorer sitting by the towering desk lamp.  
  
"There's Buzz!" said Woody pointing to the space man toy.  
  
Suddenly, the massive door to the study slammed shut, causing everyone to jump. A huge heartless that looked like a giant black book worm appeared out of nowhere. It was covered in short metal spikes, perfect for chopping through wood, or pages, and it reared up to show just how powerful it was. But Sora wasn't phased. He didn't falter when the bookworm heartless roared loud, showing rows of jagged and spiked metal teeth either.  
  
"Come on guys!" Sora called to the others, getting into his fighting stance, "Time to show the heartless who is boss!"  
  
"Right!" all three replied and then charged.  
  
~*~  
  
"Damn you Riku!" Mariha yelled, "Why didn't you go!" She was angry with herself for this. It was all her fault. Sobs were gone, but she kept crying. She couldn't stop. She couldn't help herself.  
  
"How could I let this happen?" she said to herself. "You said everything would be fine! That he'd make the right choice! But how could this be the right choice..."  
  
She was now referring to the voice in her dreams, the same one that she had first heard when she met Alee. "This can't be destiny! It just can't be..."  
  
Her voice became as quiet as a whisper, as if she were trying to speak to something deep inside of her. She remembered the dreams so clearly. The first still haunted her, when she had watched Riku die in her arms. The second, almost the same but instead of watching in horror as Riku fell, Alee met with her. And the third and final dream, the one she didn't have in the Dead Forest like the other two, but here in this cell. She closed her eyes to recall the third dream in her mind.  
  
She was in that room of ever surrounding light. She heard that voice, the one she could recognize but couldn't remember exactly where she had heard it before.  
  
"Watch and listen," it said, "There will come a time where you must bring it upon yourself to tell him what must be done. He must choose. His answer cannot be altered. Once he has chosen, it is unchangeable."  
  
When Mariha had first heard that, she didn't understand, and now that she did, she didn't want to. The room turned black. She could see a small shred of light from the crack of a door. She saw a figure chained with their arms over their head. From where she was now, she couldn't see whom that person was she could only see their shadowy outline. But then, she heard a piercing crack of a whip. Silence. Another thundering crack sounded, then a shout of pain. Mariha knew instantly who's voice it was. Riku. She could see him clearly now. Ansem stepped out of the darkness. Mariha gasped and almost screamed out loud when he looked right at her and grinned evilly.  
  
Everything blacked out with another crack of the whip. She could now see herself hunched over something. She could only catch a glimpse at its arm. It was Riku's. She wanted to call out to him, to herself even, but no words left her mouth, no sound. Then a voice.  
  
"He'll never tell me what I need to know," said Ansem in a strange language, yet Mariha couldn't somehow understood him, "Kill him tomorrow, and prepare something for the girl to wear for out wedding. I'll find that light without that good for nothing boy!"  
  
"No Riku..." Mariha said, thought she made no sound, she heard nothing of her own voice. But she was sure she had said it.  
  
The room was turned into light once more. She no longer saw herself, leaning over Riku's limp body, Ansem plotting against them from so close by. She felt a single tear down her cheek. Then that voice spoke once again.  
  
"It will all happen exactly like that," it said, "Then, Riku must choose."  
  
"But what is he choosing?" asked Mariha, suddenly finding her voice.  
  
"He must choose between life without you, or death by trying to stay with you."  
  
Mariha gulped. For most people that choice would have been easy, to live, but she knew how stubborn Riku was. There was a better chance of him choosing to live without her than there was of him becoming a buddy of Ansems.   
  
"How would he be able to live, if he chose that," said Mariha carefully, "How would he escape?"  
  
"He could've left that day when he met Sora in that parallel universe, so he can again. He doesn't know this though so you must tell him. But, you will not be able to escape Kingdom Hearts, ever. Not if he chooses to live."  
  
"Please tell me, what's going to happen to him?" Mariha pleaded, "What will he choose?"  
  
"It is unpredictable," said the voice, "But whatever that choice may be, it is fate, it is his destiny. He cannot choose wrong."  
  
"But what if he does? What if he chooses to stay? What kind of destiny does he have if he's dead? There must be another way!" insisted Mariha.  
  
"Whatever he chooses, it will be the right choice. Everything will be fine young girl. After all, his destiny, is also a part of yours..." the voice faded away but Mariha didn't want to end the conversation now.  
  
"No wait! I still don't understand!"  
  
But then Mariha had awoken. She remembered that when she had, Riku was still asleep. But when he did wake, she was too lost in confusion to notice much. She was totally lost within herself. Shocked at what she had just seen and heard. What was she to believe? Was she supposed to do all it had said? Or was it all just a dream, a trick sent by Ansem? No, it had to be real, that voice had given her Alee, and Ansem couldn't have sent it, it was pure light. But should she tell Riku about it now? Or should she wait. She had no idea how accurate her dream was. Better see it as it comes and decide then.   
  
Now, as she cried, alone in a dungeon with no escape, she wished she had told him sooner. She shouldn't have doubted her own urge to tell him. She shouldn't have blocked Riku out.  
  
Time seemed irrelevant as she seemed to drown, dive deeper and deeper in self-pity. All the "if I hadn't" and "if I didn't" thought clouded her mine until she was almost too deep within herself to ever come back out.  
  
"Since when did you start giving up?"  
  
"Riku?" Mariha said suddenly as she swore she had just heard his voice. It broke her dive, broke her trance.  
  
"This isn't the Mariha I used to know." It was his voice! It was inside of her. She could her it ringing through her head. She looked around but didn't see him. But she heard him, she felt him. "Come on now! No point in fussing over the past. What's happened happened. No one can change that."  
  
"I remember!" said Mariha with a new hope, "Riku, I won't let you down again. You're right, what's happened, happened. I can't change the past, but I can change the future!"  
  
There must be a way to change destiny, there must be!  
  
With that thought, a bright light shone from Mariha's necklace. The yellowish circle backing to it disappeared into the light and the light formed a figure. Mariha couldn't tell what it was a first, but as the light faded, she caught a glimpse of a white and pink cluster of feathers on a long body with two wings. Alee had come!  
  
"A-Alee?" she said blinking in surprise. The little flying angel thing flew to hover in her face and stared her down for a moment, as if it were trying to read her thoughts. Then, it brought its tail forward to wipe the tears from Mariha's face.  
  
Mariha smiled and tickled Alee under its feather-covered chin. It chirped happily and flew joyful little circles around her, weaving between her arms and body. It stopped over her left shoulder and nuzzled her cheek with its soft nose. Mariha squirmed a little from the tickle of the feathers on her face and brought her hands under Alee to bring it in front of her.  
  
She gazed in wonder at the angel like creature from her dream that now was defiantly real as it sat in her cupped hands. It blinked its innocent soft pinky eyes, waiting for a reply from its holder. Mariha brought Alee closer to her face and looked at it seriously.  
  
"Alee, can you help me find Riku?" she asked. Alee squeaked and sang with glee as if flew out of Mariha's hands. It went over to the dungeon bars.  
  
"Huh? What are you -"  
  
But a blinding light cut Mariha off mid-sentence. She had to shield her eyes from the bright beams with her arms but she managed to catch the silhouette of Alee almost touching the low ceiling, wings outstretched and head held high. Alee was creating the light. But suddenly it vanished, the light disappeared, and the dungeon returned to it's normal brightness; dark.   
  
Mariha looked in front of her. She almost gagged in surprise. Alee hand taken the bars away with the light! They weren't there anymore! Gone, vanished into thin air, or in this case, light. Mariha could see Alee squeaking happily in the corridor, waiting for her to join it.  
  
"Whoa! What else can you do?" asked Mariha, still stunned by amazement. Alee only replied with an excited chirp and twirled around her as she joined it.  
  
"Ok then, lead the way to Riku!" said Mariha. She followed as Alee darted down the corridor of the dungeon filled with empty jail cells.  
  
AN: Finally! This took me FOREVER to write cuz my dumb brother kept hogging the computer *mumbles* o well, more FFX beating time for me!! *cheesy grin* *fans: get on with it! And hurry up next time!* YOU'RE STILL HERE!!!! ^-^ *hugs fans* *Fans: o.O leave* X_x 


	13. Rescues

AN: OMG I'm soooo sorry that it's taken so long for me to update!! My friends are all back from their camps so they keep calling me over and stuff... but here's then next chapter, after much toil, so enjoy it I guess. Mmmm, chocolate pudding! Lol oops! Back to the point... um ya, well.... I got bored today waiting from my friend to call back so I beat Riku 100 times in a row on Destiny Island on Kingdom Hearts! ^-^ ok yea, that just show's how say my life is XD  
  
Disclaimers: How many times do I have to put this? *Fans: we don't know, forever?* XD ok, so I don't own anything cept for those few OC's....  
  
Rescues  
  
"One more hit should do it!" called Sora to his companions who were a couple of meters from him. They had chased the worm toward a bookshelf but before they could hit it, it burrowed into a book. Sora was standing in front of a different bookcase with his back to it while he called. He didn't realize how close he was to the row of books while he looked around at the other shelves, waiting for the worm to re-appear.   
  
But he suddenly turned to face the books as a crash of splintered wood and torn pages sounded behind him. The worm exploded out of the books, jaws open and teeth glistening, about to land and swallow Sora whole!  
  
"Look out!"  
  
Sora couldn't save himself. He just braced himself, Keyblade as a shield in front of him, and couldn't help but shut his eyes and look away right before the heartless landed on him. But it can't end like this, he thought, as time seemed to slow until it almost stopped. Suddenly, a red laser beam shot at the worm, knocking it away from Sora.  
  
"Huh?" he said in surprise, as he had been watching with one eye. He opened the other and stood straight. He looked up at the space man who was standing on the desk, a small cloud of smoke rising from his arm where the laser gun was.  
  
"Finish that bugger off," he said giving Sora the thumbs up.  
  
Sora nodded and turned toward the worm. It was lying almost completely still. The blast had temporarily stunned it, but soon, if began rearing and roaring again in fury. It spotted Sora and tried to make a dash to the nearest bookshelf.  
  
"Oh no you don't!" Sora yelled and caught up to if before it reached the first shelf. He took the finishing blow. With a defining moan, the worm heartless exploded into nothing, as the essence of a heart floated up and away.  
  
"Wow, that was a pretty close call!" exclaimed Woody.   
  
Sora nodded though he was only half listening. He was too busy staring in wonder at the space man who had saved him from becoming that heartless' lunch. The man, or should I say, toy, hopped down from the desk, to the chair, than onto the floor right were Sora, Goofy, Donald and Woody were standing.  
  
"Buzz Light-year (AN: sorry I don't know how his name is spelt XD)," he said making a little salute to them. "New toys for Andy Woody?"  
  
"No buzz, these guys aren't toys, they're from the outside worlds!" Woody said excitedly.  
  
"I'm Sora."  
  
"Donald."  
  
"Call me Goofy."  
  
"I see, well nice to meet you!" said Buzz.  
  
"Hey, um, a friend of ours told us to come see you about something," said Sora.  
  
"What's that?" asked Buzz. But suddenly there was a loud boom and everyone ran out of the study into the main hall. There, by the front door, was that worm heartless!  
  
"Hey! Didn't we already beat that?" called Sora to no one in particular.  
  
"This must be its last battle," replied Donald, "Remember the Guard Armor in Traverse Town that came back as Opposite Armor?"  
  
"O yea..."  
  
It didn't take the team long to beat the worm again, especially with Buzz to help them out as well, but after they did, right on cue, is began to change. The metal spikes covering it folded down to create a sort of armor so the worm looked like a giant metal rod. The tip of its tail grew a long razor sharp point, like a sword, and swung around crazily. The only unarmored part of its body was its face, but there were those long needle teeth. It charged at the party so they attacked back.   
  
"Two bosses in one day?" sighed Sora, "What is the world coming to?"  
  
~*~  
  
Riku didn't struggle. He knew it'd be no use. He quietly followed Ansem and his heartless guards. They took him to a flight of stairs. Honestly, was everything at the top of the fortress here? Well, after all, they HAD been in the dungeon, which was probably in the basement. But they took Riku higher than before. They must have been going to the tallest tower in this castle, if this even was a castle.  
  
He stumbled countless times on the stairs, his body still shaking from that last meeting with Ansem. His back was hurting and his head was swimming, but he would keep getting up only to fall again. Finally, Ansem got impatient. He ordered his heartless to carry Riku.  
  
Riku didn't object. He didn't say a word still. He didn't need to. It was pointless. He couldn't do anything to stop what was about to happen. What was it called? O yes, destiny. But he wasn't afraid. He wasn't regretful or ashamed. He was actually slightly amused. He didn't know why he felt like that though. It was mostly just a feeling, a feeling deep inside him, which told him no matter what Ansem tried to do, Ansem would fail.  
  
So as the heartless came to a stop, as he heard a door open, as he was carried in, and even as his hand were tied behind his back to a pretty thick metal poll over a floor of metal with small holes in them which were over a trap door that had yet to be opened, he kept on knowing that he would be the one to win this game. He knew that he'd be the one to find the light, and take Mariha to his home, just like he promised.  
  
"After all," he whispered to himself as the largebody who was tying him up joined Ansem off the metal platform and out of earshot, "A promise is a promise."  
  
~  
  
Mariha darted through the torch lit halls. She could barely keep up with Alee who flew swiftly ahead of her. It still had to stop and look back at her for a second when Mariha got too far behind though.   
  
Although Mariha doubted that Alee had ever been in this place before, it seemed to know exactly where it was going. Then, without warning, Alee turned a shape corner and vanished from view. Mariha ran to where she saw the critter disappear and turned the corner as well. She almost bonked right into Alee right after the turn thought as the creature had suddenly stopped. Mariha looked up and saw that they had stopped in front of a staircase. Alee quickly flew behind Mariha and peeked over her shoulder shyly.  
  
"Is Riku up there?" she asked. Alee nodded. "Alright, lets go then." She started up the stairs but stopped at the second step. Alee wasn't following her.  
  
"What's wrong?" she asked softly, coming back down to cup the creature's small head in her hands. Alee shivered and Mariha thought she heard a small whimper. "You're afraid of Ansem aren't you?"  
  
Alee made a small nod. Mariha closed her eyes and smiled kindly.  
  
"Then you don't have to come. You already have done so much to help me anyway."  
  
She opened her eyes as Alee nuzzled her cheek, as if asking 'Are you sure?' Mariha understood and nodded. With one last nuzzle, Alee flew straight above her and admitted a bright light. Alee disappeared as a single feather floated down in front of Mariha's face. It landed softly in her still cupped hands.  
  
A feather, she thought, Just a feather...  
  
It glowed then the light of it went back to form the backing of her necklace. She stood for a moment in the darkness.  
  
I guess I'm on my own now, she thought and headed up the stairs.   
  
The stairs lead higher and higher up. She didn't like it, the feeling of going up countless stairs while not exactly knowing what's waiting at the top. It reminded her of when Ansem, disguised as Riku, tricked her and created Natia out of her. She could never forget that. She wished she could, but if stuck in her mind, it seemed to never leave.   
  
Mariah shook her head to focus at the task at hand. Then, she reached a door. She took a deep breath and pushed on it slightly.  
  
~*~  
  
Finally they did it. The worm was finally defeated, for good this time hopefully. But as the heartless faded into nothing and its stolen heart floated up and away, something more happened. Up on the door to go outside into the front yard of the house, right on its keyhole, it shone. The keyhole of this world appeared within that doors keyhole. Sora raised his Keyblade as and thin blue line of light shot from the end to the keyhole. A locking sound echoed through the silence of the giant house and the keyhole disintegrated.   
  
"Well, at least that's over," said Sora, "You guys shouldn't have anymore troubles with heartless now."  
  
"Thank you so much!" said Woody, "I don't know how to thank you enough!"  
  
"Well, Buzz could," replied Sora, "By telling us what this is." He held out the gummi Simba had given them.  
  
"A gummi block!" exclaimed Buzz, "Why didn't you say so! I'm an expert, being a space ranger and all." Buzz took the gummi from Sora and looked at it closely. "Hmm, this here's a very old, but very useful navigational gummi piece," he said after a while, "It can take you to very far away worlds. They don't make them anymore since the world needed to become isolated from the heartless, but it should still work."  
  
"Score!" shouted Sora, jumping up and punching a fist up into the air. He finally was going to go home!  
  
"Alright sport," said Buzz, patting Sora on the shoulder, "Then lets see this ship of yours so I can install it already."  
  
"Um, it's getting late, I think you should do it in the morning," said Woody.   
  
"Aw, all right!" said Buzz. They all started up the stairs (Donald: "More like cliff!") And went straight to Andy's room where a crowd of toys were awaiting them.  
  
~*~  
  
Riku still made no sound. Still made no effort to escape. His face was just as emotionless as it was inside of him. Emotionless to a plain eye, but deep inside, you could say that a sort of humor was bouncing in his glazy eyes.  
  
Ansem strolled over to him and stopped right in front of Riku, still as stone. The only thing moving was Riku's eyes as they followed his every move, his every breath.   
  
"Now this is you final chance," said Ansem sternly despite the amusement hiding behind his yellowy eyes.  
  
Riku made no sound, no move.  
  
"Tell me where you're hiding the light and I may spare you pathetic life," he continued though he knew he didn't need to ask. He knew the boy knew what he was talking about.   
  
Silence.  
  
"Where's the light?" he asked again.  
  
Silence.  
  
"You might as well say boy," he said, "I'll find it either way."  
  
Silence.  
  
Ansem frowned in frustration. But then a wicked smile broke out across his dark face. "You foolish boy! What are you trying to prove? Who do you think you're trying to protect?"  
  
Silence.  
  
Ansem grunted and turned to walk away. "So you have chosen death then. Fine, no matter, I'll still win in the end."   
  
As Riku watched Ansem walk away, the corner of his mouth twitched, he couldn't hold it in any longer.  
  
"You will loose."  
  
It was a calmed voice, thought it rang with cruel mockery. Ansem stopped and turned.  
  
"O you think so?" he said controlling himself with all his might not to burst out with laughter, "Look at yourself! You're at my mercy and you say now that I will not defeat you?"  
  
"Yes. You think you may win this battle? Fine. You can win the battle, but I'll be victorious in the war. I will defeat you," said Riku all of a sudden raising his bowed head to stare at Ansem with evil amusement. Ansem walked up to Riku again and grabbed his shirt to hold him up to his face.  
  
"I've already won the war," Ansem said coolly, "You're the one defeated."  
  
Riku didn't give in to Ansems stare. Instead he glared back with the same intensity and let that mocking smile free. "We'll see."  
  
Ansem gave Riku a suspicious look and turned to walk away again. But, in the blink of an eye, he swiftly swung his arm around to hit Riku in the face. Riku bowed his head over again but now with a ringing in his ears. He would not let Ansem get to him.  
  
"Think twice next time before you mock me again boy!" said Ansem, then he smiled, his turn to mock Riku, "O yes, I forgot. There won't be a next time for you."  
  
He snorted and walked away.  
  
Riku kept silent once again. It wasn't that he was afraid of Ansem. No, he hated Ansem too much to fear him. He held his tongue because he knew it'd be pointless to argue any long. His silence was the same as before but his emotion was back, some of it. That hate toward Ansem burned inside him now. He didn't need to prove anything to him. Such action would be a waist of time and effort.  
  
Riku opened his closed eyes to look down at the ground. Ok, if he was going to die, why wasn't he dreading it? Why wasn't he worried that he might never be able to show Mariha his island like he had promised? Why, why and why? They flooded his mind, but the same answer kept coming back, the same one that had compelled him to keep still, mouth shut and not run. This is Destiny. Whatever it threw at him, he would deal with it. But now... how?  
  
Riku looked up when he heard a humming. Quiet at first, then growing steadily louder. It was the humming and clanking of moving machinery. He looked below the hole filled floor to the trap door, but it wasn't moving... yet. The noise kept growing, defiantly coming from below, as something was drawing nearer. Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped.  
  
Very loudly, the trap door below Riku boomed open after a moment of utter silence. Slowly, a glass box rose from the blackness below. The floor around Riku then shattered and crashed down into the darkness, leaving a gap of nothingness between the small space Riku was on and the solid floor that bore no holes where Ansem stood. The poll that connected no doubt to the ceiling was the only thing holding the square of holed floor up from falling down into that trap door.  
  
The glass box rose up around Riku, it fitted perfectly with the square of ground he was standing on, and kept rising then stopped about of foot from the top of his head. He looked up. He was totally contained in this glass box, the only way out, was up through the open top. But he couldn't get up there, not tied up like this. He had no intention to get out just yet anyway.  
  
"What's this for?" he asked as thought he didn't really care, "To make sure I don't escape? Well I'm not running."  
  
"Oh no," said Ansem simply, "This is for something much more useful then simply acting as a sort of cage."  
  
"And that is...?"  
  
Ansem just smiled. "Well you see," he said, "I really would enjoy watching you die a suffer filled death. Actually nothing would please me more than this."  
  
He pressed a button on the control box in front of him and Riku suddenly heard the fait trickling of water.  
  
"Because watching you slowly drown in a box full of water contains enough suffering from you to satisfy me," he said, strolling up as close to Riku as he could without falling into the gap. The water was up to his ankles already. It was filling from the bottom down from the trap door and easily flowed through the holes in the floor at Riku's feet.  
  
"But mostly, I get the bonus pleasure of seeing you die just like you're little lost friend Naomi, who you failed to save all those years ago," said Ansem smirking in delight.  
  
A sudden panic flowed through Riku. He had let her down, but now he was to join her exactly the same way. But he forced himself to hide his panic. Destiny would not allow him to die. It couldn't. But it was hard to hide the distress of the thought of drowning. Really hard. But he managed to keep a straight face, though he knew Ansem could see the fear in his eyes.  
  
The water was up to his knees now. He could no longer bear to look at Ansem. He shut his eyes and concentrated hard. He needed to get out, but how? Maybe he wasn't supposed to get out. Maybe death was part of his destiny. Maybe his death would bring Ansems ruin.  
  
As the water reached Riku's waist, he kept as still as possible. It was settled. He had accepted his fate. He had accepted death. He heard Ansem laugh for the man thought he was still attempting to hide his fear. But suddenly, as the water reached his stomach, Riku heard Ansem stop his fit of laugher rather abruptly. He opened his eyes and looked up. The door! It was opened, and someone was standing in it!  
  
"Ma-Mariha?" stammered Riku in surprise.  
  
"What!" cried Ansem in just as much surprise as Riku, "How did you escape? Guards!"  
  
"Riku!" called Mariha desperately as she tried to get over to him, but the heartless caught her first.  
  
"Ah, this is actually much better!" Ansem said, "Now you may be able to watch you're little friend die with me."  
  
"Let him go!" Mariha begged, "Please! You want me right? Leave him be!"  
  
"Now, now," replied the man, "We don't want to have to stop the show just as it gets to the good part."  
  
"Please he's done nothing too you let him go!" She struggled again then called over to him, "Riku!"  
  
Riku was frozen. He could not move. He just stared at Mariha in disbelief with pain in his eyes. No, he had accepted his death, but Mariha hadn't. He couldn't let her watch him die. It would pain her too much. It would pain him. The water was at his neck but he still stared. Mariha was being forced to watch her first friend die, just like he had to.  
  
"Riku!" Mariha cried again.  
  
He snapped out of his thoughts as the water splashed against his chin.  
  
"Mariha..." he said softly to himself. Then louder to call out to her, "Mariha! I... I'm sorry..."  
  
"No Riku..."  
  
A tear ran down Riku's half submerged cheek. He had to raise his head up so his mouth would stay above the water.  
  
"Mariha I -"  
  
But he couldn't finish, the water rose to quickly. Soon, it was way above his head, to the very top of the glass. Riku tried to wiggle free in the water. But he was loosing air quickly. He opened his eyes to look over at Mariha who was still being forced to watch. Pain washed her face. That gave him motivation. He struggled against his ties until his wrists started to bleed. He thrashed around franticly but it was no use. Mariha couldn't peel her eye's away from him, thought her mind screamed at her to look away. Riku's lugs were screaming for air. He had to take a breath. He opened his mouth and took in a gulp of water. He chocked but it made the matter worse.  
  
"Riku no!!" Mariha cried struggling with all her strength to get to him. But her attempts were futile. His movements slowed, until they stopped. He blacked out. His limp body half floating submerged in the water filled box.  
  
"No please!" she screamed, tears bursting from her face as her muscles relaxed as she stared at the motionless Riku. No! No he can't be gone! she though.  
  
"Riku you just can't..." she cried still not able to take her eyes away from him, "Riku..." She'd do anything to bring him back! She'd give anything to spare him! She wished with all her heart that something could be done to save him.   
  
Suddenly, a wind, or something like it, whipped itself around the room. The suddenness of it caused the largebody holding her to loose its grip. She felt a warm energy from that wind, then darkness shot from the star of her necklace and swirled around her.  
  
"What's this?" said Ansem, trying to fight the strong wind. Finally, the wind disappeared, as well as the darkness to reveal none other than Natia. She had returned.  
  
She darted to the glass box, still filled with water and Riku. She broke right through it and water washed over her as she grabbed Riku and flew up holding on to him. She flew straight up. She tossed a dark ball of energy at the ceiling with her free hand, which then exploded to create a hole to the outside for her escape. She shot through it and set her course leading far away from the building. She didn't look back. She didn't stop. She didn't speak to Riku who was still limp in her arms.  
  
Mariha had succeeded in rescuing Riku, but Natia now controlled her body and mind. Riku was safe from Ansem, but he was now in danger from Natia who kept flying swiftly and silently over the darkness of Kingdom Hearts.  
  
AN: There chapter done! Well, I'm hoping to finish this before the school year starts cuz I prolly won't be updating ANYTHING as soon as my new high school starts XD sorry again!! I'll *try* and get the next couple of chapters up faster! 


	14. Home Again

AN: Ok, that you have to admit was pretty fast of an update! Aw never mind. I gotta get back to my cookie *munches on a peanut butter cookie* hey u want one? *smushes cookie against the computer screen* There! ^-^ SUGAR COOKIES FOR ALL!!! *licks chocolate ice cream* :3  
  
Disclaimers: Guess who's back!!! ME! THE PERSON THAT KEEPS ON SAYING THAT THIS STORY OWN'S NEITHER KINGDOM HEARTS, SQUARESOFT NOR DIESNEY!!! And you'd think I might get a cooler name other than just 'Disclaimers' *sigh* it's a tough job...  
  
Home Again  
  
It didn't take long the next morning for Buzz to install the navigational gummi block to the gummi ship.  
  
"Hey, thanks for everything," said Sora to Woody and Buzz.  
  
"Ah, no problem kid!" said Woody.  
  
"All in a days work," added Buzz.  
  
"And thank you for getting rid of those heartless," said Woody and slapped Sora on the back. Sora smiled and gave him the thumbs up. He climbed into the ship where Donald and Goofy were already set to go.  
  
"Hey! Visit anytime Sora!" called Woody, waving his hat around as the ship rose and took off.  
  
During the trip to Destiny Islands at last, Sora thought about home. It seemed like ages since he had been back on it goofing around with Riku and Kairi. He couldn't get the grin off his face. He was finally going home! He was finally going to see Kairi again! He promised her that one-day he would come back for her, and that day was today.  
  
His train of happy and exciting thoughts were then rather abruptly interrupted by Donald's yelling. Sora looked over to see that Goofy had gotten his sleeve caught between a leaver. Sora sighed, not again!  
  
"Hold still Goofy!" said Donald as he attempted to pull out the material wedged between the leavers. He pulled. But his grip slipped away and he went toppling backwards, knocking leavers and buttons as he went.  
  
Sora sighed again. Who said long flying rides were always boring? "This is going to be a long trip..."   
  
"Ok! I've had it!" said Donald when he had gotten up. He took out his staff and pointed it at Goofy's shirtsleeve.  
  
"Fire!" he yelled and a ball of red flame shot out from the end of his staff. The flame burned right through so Goofy's arm was released, but he waved his now free arm frantically through the air as the fabric was still flaming. He knocked over many things in the process went finally Sora got a hold of the sleeve and put the fire out.  
  
"Grwarsh thanks Sora!" Goody said in relief.  
  
"No problem," replied Sora. He went back to his seat and the rest of the ride was, well, relatively quiet.  
  
Finally, up ahead, Sora say a little speck of blue and green in the distance. It was his own world! His home! His island! He leaned forward in his seat and grinned even wider, if it were even possible.  
  
"Donald! Hurry it up!" he said, "Over there! Land on that small island by that dock."  
  
"Roger!" said Donald.  
  
"Roger? Where?" said Goofy looking around.  
  
Sora and Donald both fell down with sweat drops giving the impression of an 'o-my-gosh-I-don't-believe-you' thought.   
  
"It's a figure of speech!" yelled Donald as the ship began to descend toward that small island Sora called home.  
  
~*~  
  
They hadn't been flying long when Riku came to. He coughed painfully as the water in his lungs brought back his awareness of what just had happened. So, was he dead? He slowly opened one eye. It took a second for it to focus then he opened the other. He was too weak to move, but he forced himself with his last strength to turn his head to look around. He couldn't see much but he felt the wind on his face. He wasn't dead! It felt like he was moving too... wait, he was flying! Fling in the arms of Mariha. Or was it Mariha? No, it was that darker self of her. She had saved him.  
  
"Ma-Mariha?" he managed to say. Thought it was only a faint whisper, Natia looked down at him in surprise. She had thought he was already dead. She stopped flying and landed in an open area.  
  
"Wha -what happened?" Riku said, still gasping for air thought it hurt so much to breathe. She said nothing instead she put him down. She then turned away and flew up a few feet from the ground.  
  
Riku tried to stand, but it was no use. He muscles refused to move. He was able to crawl over to a large rock near by and prop himself up against it. He looked back up at Natia who was glaring at him.  
  
"What are you doing?" Riku said though he wondered if he made any sound at all. Natia replied him however with a shower of small darkness bombs the size of a fist. None hit Riku but instead they seemed to shower down all at the same time in a circle around him. As they hit the ground and exploded, which caused the dirt and sand to spew up. Riku coughed painfully again while the dust created a large cloud over him.  
  
Suddenly he saw the eerie shadow of Natia come charging at him. She grabbed him and pushed him hard against the rock behind him. When his back hit it, he cried out in pain. The burning pain of the welts from that whip on his back throbbed as he it. He felt his heartbeat pounding in his back and head.   
  
"Where is the light!" demanded Natia shaking him slightly to slam him against the rock again.  
  
Riku cried out again from the overwhelming pain. As his head was thrown back though, he banged the back of his head against it as well so as his head began to swim in dizziness.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Don't play dumb!" Natia yelled in a piercing voice, "Where is it? Tell me so I may bring it back to my master."  
  
Riku had to fight his dizziness, but he couldn't focus on anything with his eyes. Everything seemed so blurred.   
  
"Mariha, why are you doing this?" he said. His voice was now extremely dry and horse.  
  
"Why?" she said as if it was some sort of joke and laughed a cruel high-pitched cackle, "So my master and I can be freed from this accursed place! That foolish friend of yours, Mariha, wanted to save you so badly that she was willing to do ANYTHING. What better invitation could I have gotten to control her again? I'm not on her side. I thought you were already dead so I was just disposing of your body."  
  
Then, she chucked and shot him a nasty glance. It was still hard for Riku to see anything so he didn't notice her look, but his pounding head didn't improve.  
  
"But since you're still alive and well," she said raising a fist, "I'll finish you off myself."  
  
She brought down her clenched fist to hit Riku's face. His head pounded even more and he thought his brain would explode with all the thumping in it. His ear began to ring and he could barely hear anything else. His sight as well was very limited, he couldn't even know if they were open or not he was so dizzy. So he half laid there, eyes half open glazed over and focused on nothing. He thought he heard a yell, but he didn't know what it said. Was it Natia talking to him again? He had no idea. He suddenly began to feel very sleepy.  
  
Must sleep, he thought, yes, sleep...  
  
"Riku wait!" Those words rang through Riku's head, not through his ears, but through his mind. It was Mariha. She was still with him. He opened his eyes, he could see perfectly again, although his head still felt a bit dizzy. He saw that Natia was still there, but she was covering her ears with her eyes slammed shut.  
  
"Ma-ri-ha?" Riku said with difficulty. His throat was soar and dry, making his voice raspy, and his chest, his lungs, still hurt.  
  
"You said you would help!" said Mariha out loud to her counter part, "Why are you doing this?"  
  
Natia didn't reply, not out loud anyways. But Riku knew she probably talking through Mariha's mind. Suddenly, she opened her still black hollowing eyes and looked at Riku with a sort of longing. Mariha was trying to get through. But Riku couldn't help her he couldn't even help himself.  
  
"No, I can't so that!" said Mariha suddenly. She turned her gaze from Riku and seemed to stare into space. She had to force her evil self away. There was no way that she'd hurt him again. He had already gone through enough. He had been on the brink of death, and she was taking advantage of his current state of helplessness. She needed to fight Natia away. She just had to.  
  
Riku looked at her. Mariha still had her hands over hear ears, trying to block out the cold voice inside her head. Mariha was the one speaking, but Natia still had her body. He looked up into her eyes. At first he thought that his eyes were playing tricks on him again, but he soon realized this wasn't another hallucination. Everything was still the showing that the person in front of him was indeed Natia, but Riku could see her eyes flickering from Mariha's soft hazel eyes to her dark sides swallowing black ones while she stared.  
  
You can do it, thought Riku not having the strength left to speak. He watched anxiously for few moments as she didn't move or speak.  
  
Riku I will not let you down again! she screamed in her head. And with that, her eyes stopped flickering and stayed their natural brown colour. Slowly, her look faded to let her normal appearance in. for a second she kept still, staring into nothing, as if she were lost inside of herself. Finally, she blinked and seemed to wake her up from whatever was going on in her head. She blinked again and looked down at Riku for a moment before hurriedly hugging him.  
  
"O I'm sorry!" she cried, "I can't believe I did it again!"  
  
"Shh," said Riku gather his last bit of energy to speak, "I'm trying to sleep here," he said with a wink and an attempt at a smile.  
  
Mariha smiled awkwardly back to him and moved to his side. She wrapped her arms around his arm, her shoulder up against the rock behind them while she rested her head on his shoulder.  
  
"Ok then," she whispered.  
  
~*~  
  
As Sora climbed out of the gummi ship, which was landed right where he had pointed out to Donald, he felt his heart beating faster and faster. He couldn't believe it! He was actually here! He looked around in every direction. It was all exactly how he remembered it. He could see a little ways away, Selphie standing on the beach, staring out over the ocean. She didn't notice him so he looked around again. He couldn't see anyone else around. Kairi was nowhere in sight.  
  
"Hey! Hey Sora!" yelled a familiar voice, thought it was not Kairi's.  
  
"Tidus!" Sora called back as the blonde youth waved from his usual practicing balcony above the dock.  
  
"Hey Wakka!" It's Sora! Sora's really here!" Tidus called back to his closest redheaded friend.  
  
"No way man!" said Wakka walking over to the balcony's railing to get a look over at Sora below. "Man you're right! Hey Sora, what's happening man?"  
  
Sora smiled and waved as the two bounded down the ladder to meet with him.  
  
"Man it's good to see you guys again," he said when they had gotten down to him.  
  
"We thought like, you might never come back, ya?" said Wakka while Tidus couldn't stop beaming with excitement. Sora smiled back and gave them a wink.  
  
"Hey, is Riku with you?"  
  
Sora's smile disappeared. "Um, it's a long story. But, ah, have you seen Kairi lately?"  
  
Suddenly aware of their presence, Selphie walked over. "I can't believe you're back!" she screamed as her hyper giddy self, "Hey, who are they?" She pointed to Donald and Goofy.  
  
"Oh, some of my friends I met, um, yea..." said Sora.  
  
"Cool!" exclaimed Tidus, "Hey Sora, we'll hook up later ok? Go look for Kairi." He winked and Sora blushed. They knew. But Sora nodded and waved goodbye. All three of his old fiends waved back then stared firing questions at Donald and Goofy.  
  
Sora didn't need to look. He knew where she was. She probably went there every day. He knew Kairi was waiting in the secret place they had played in together as kids. It was a vine-covered entrance at the base of a large tree beside that little waterfall. The entrance consisted of a small tunnel that lead to a somewhat circular cave where Sora and Kairi used to draw on the stonewalls.  
  
He walked in, a bit afraid of what might happen. I mean, what if she didn't like him anymore for taking so long to come home? Sora tried to ignore the billions of questions that poured into his head and continued through the tunnel. She was there. She was at the far end of the cave looking at the large wooden door, touching it with one hand. Her back was to him so she didn't notice him standing there watching.  
  
Sora had to fight the urge to call out in excitement. It was still so hard to take in. she was right here! He could finally see her! He could finally speak to her face to face. How he had longed for this moment to come. And it was finally here. She was just as beautiful as she had been the last time he had seen her, with her short brown hair, joyful purply-blue eyes and of course her warming smile.  
  
Sora was all of a sudden very nervous. She was right there, but he was starting to get second thoughts about her knowing he was finally back. No, he had to let her knew he'd returned for her, just like he promised. He opened him mouth, not knowing exactly what to say, but at first no words came. Finally, he got himself together.  
  
"K-Kairi?" he said, still nervous.  
  
She spun around quickly and stared at him in disbelief, but Sora could hardly blame her because he couldn't believe it either. There was a moment of silence, but Kairi finally found her voice and spoke.  
  
"Sora!" she said and ran at him to hug him tightly. He hugged her back.  
  
"I told you that I'd come back to you," he whispered.  
  
"I'm so glad you're back," she said softly as a tear rolled down her delicate cheek. Sora released her to look at her face and smiled.  
  
"I'm glad you're ok," he said wiping her tear away. Kairi smiled at him.  
  
"So where have you been? Have you found Riku?" she asked/  
  
"Well..." Sora began and continued to explain everything that had happened after he and Mickey sealed the door to Kingdom Hearts for Kairi didn't even know Riku had been locked within it. All throughout, she listened silently.  
  
"Wow," she said when he finished, "I hope you're plan works with Riku. I miss him..."  
  
Sora couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy eek through him when she said that. But he knew she meant well. After all, he missed his old friend a bit too.  
  
"Who knew this door could cause so much trouble," said Kairi looked at the plain wooden door.  
  
O yea! thought Sora, I remember that when that door opened the last time, we were all transported to different worlds! That's how this all must have started, by that door opening and connecting with the heartless.  
  
He looked up and it but didn't notice that Kairi's gaze had shifted onto him now.  
  
"Hey Sora," she said shyly to him. She stood right in front of him and he looked down into her shining eyes.  
  
"I missed you," she whispered. Then she suddenly leaned up to kiss him gently on his lips. Before Sora could recover from his surprise, she bolted out of the cave and out of sight.  
  
AN: *cha-ching* two chapters two days in a row! O who's da master!!?? Lol I'll shut up now... but please review!!! And a special thanks to EVERYONE who takes the time to read then review me lil' ficcy! ^-^ And I'll have you know that I read EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM so you're not sending them for nothing ~.^ Till next time we meet! (or unmeet =^.^=) 


	15. Love is True

AN: OK, I'm SOOOO sorry that this took literally FOREVER to get up, but to everyone's horror, school has started!!! @_@ *is dead* And I was lucky that I didn't have much homework this weekend to update this. Anyways, I'm very sorry again cuz I don't wanna loose the fans that I have (if any x_x)!! Thank you SOO much for your patience :)  
  
Disclaimers: I don't own Kingdom Hearts unfortunately, and this is my own made up story with my little back of happy OC's ^-^ (ok, this chapter is to serious for the crazy and hyper me, so I'll be leaving you to it now *jumps out of window*)  
  
Love is True  
  
Riku was awakened by that dream he had just had. He was running, chasing the light through Kingdom Hearts. But it never seemed to get any closer. Then, he saw Ansem with a captured Mariha smirk and fade into the light ahead.  
  
He now looked at his side where Mariha was still sleeping, clinging to his arm. He smiled. He wasn't as achy as before. There was only a small dull pain in his chest from all the water he had swallowed earlier. Other than that, he felt great. Then he heard a quiet moan from Mariha beside him. He tried to carefully remove his arm from her grasp without waking her, but as soon as he moved an inch she tightened her grip.  
  
"I'm not letting you go again," she said, eyes still shut. At first Riku thought she was maybe talking in her sleep, having a dream.  
  
"You're awake?" he said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to -"  
  
"No it's not your fault," she said opening her eyes and tilting her head to look at him. To Riku's surprise, there were tears streaming down her face.  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked. Seeing Mariha cry was still really new to him. She never did, so why start now?  
  
"I just don't want to loose you," she replied then shut her eyes again and rested her head back down on his shoulder and, "I hate this! You know I do; I hate being so afraid and helpless like this! But I am afraid..."  
  
"Mariha you're not -"  
  
"HE did this! Ansem turned me into the one thing I hate the most! Not being able to do anything to help the one's I care about! Riku," she said and looked back up at him, "I almost let Natia kill you again. I thought last time, she would never appear again, but she did! If something like that happens again, I don't know if I'll be able to stop her. And I know I sound like a baby and a selfish babbling girl but... you're the only person, friend, that I've ever had! You have no idea what it would be like if that one person was taken away and you had to return to you're lonely, sad life in the darkness."  
  
Finally she had to stop as sobs arose themselves.   
  
"Come on now!" said Riku holder her close, "You're not any of those things! And you did help me. You saved me from death Mariha. If Natia hadn't broken that tank, I would've drowned completely."  
  
Mariha just hugged him again then whispered, "Thank you, and sorry for all this."  
  
"Don't mention it!" said Riku then began to stand up. As he did Mariha still sat and watched him.  
  
"You ok enough to walk?" she asked.  
  
Riku chuckled. "I could fight off a whole army of heartless right now!"  
  
Mariha smiled meekly, "I can't believe you're so upsy after all you've been through."  
  
Riku held out his hand to help her up and she took it. "Looks like we've done a swap of personalities. You didn't think Ansem could just take a feeling away and not put it anywhere," he said with a wink.  
  
Mariha giggled a bit, at least she was getting into a more cheerful mood. Riku never thought the day would come when HE would need to cheer Mariha up.  
  
"Ok, if all my amazing skills are still what they used to be, we should have two days left to find this light everyone's asking about," announced Riku looking around at his surroundings. He couldn't see Ansems fortress or whatever it was called anywhere. That was a good sign; he silently thanked Natia for flying them so far away.  
  
"Any idea of where we are?" asked Mariha looking around as well.  
  
"Nope," admitted Riku shrugging. They were surrounded in a large black plain of nothing at all. Kind of depressing really, "But have we ever really known where we were in this world?"  
  
"I guess not..." said Mariha. Riku looked at her with concern but she wouldn't meet his gaze. Instead, she continued to look around, at nothing in particular since there was really nothing to see, through the dark land that surrounded them.  
  
"Come on," said Riku and Mariha looked at him in surprise.  
  
"Wha -now?" she stammered.  
  
"Well, ya," said Riku, "We have to find the light before Ansem catches up to us."  
  
"But are you sure you're well enough for us to go?" she asked.  
  
"Come on! Don't be so worried!" said Riku, "I'm still alive right? And so are you."  
  
"O all right already!" she said giving in and throwing her arms in the air. She then smiled with the best one she could muster up, "Lets go."  
  
They walked side-by-side through the waist land that seemed to get rockier as they went. It wasn't long before the ground they walked on turned to gravel, then to fist sized rocks. They that a little trouble on these for with every step, the rocks would shift and roll under their weight.   
  
It took them a while to get over the ever-rolling rocks, but when they did, larger rocks greeted them with razor sharp points sticking out in random directions. One slip and you'd be cut to pieces.  
  
"Ah nuts," muttered Riku.  
  
"Riku?" said Mariha as she came up beside him to peer over at the death trail ahead.  
  
"Is this included in the things Ansem has made you fear full of?" asked Riku pointing to the path ahead.  
  
Mariha took her gaze from the rocks to Riku, then back to the rocks. She wouldn't slow them down, she knew Riku intended to cross it, she couldn't, she wouldn't, let the fear she hated so stop them.  
  
"No," she said without taking her eyes off the path and without blinking. Thought she see it, she sensed Riku look over at her, "I can cross, if you can."  
  
She looked over at Riku with a fire in her eye. Riku nodded.  
  
"Ok, but take it slow," he said and Mariha looked at him to make it clear she needed no pity, "One false move and we're minced meat," he added quickly.  
  
Slowly but surely, the two made their way across the death path, carefully watching where they placed or set down their foot or hand. They began to get tired and their muscles ached from the slow, tense movements but there seemed to be no end to the razor sharp rocks.  
  
Finally, when Riku though he was going to collapse, Mariha spotted a cave in a sheer cliff wall ahead beside a narrow passage of more rocks and pointed it out to him. They made their way over to the cave, a little hurriedly, and plopped themselves down in exhaustion. Unlike outside, it had a relatively flat rock floor. It was a little uneven in parts but where there was a ditch of some sort, there was usually sand that would almost fill it up making the whole ground look pretty much as flat as a pancake.   
  
"So I guess we'll crash here, then continue when we're rested," said Riku. Mariha was a bit deeper in the cave, though it wasn't that deep to begin with, looking at the stonewalls.  
  
"Sounds good to me," she replied looking over at him and smiling.  
  
Mariha went to the very back of the cave and lay down. The cold, hard stone wasn't at all comfortable, but it didn't really matter to Mariha, she was too tired to care. Thought she was exhausted from the day's journey, she found it difficult to sleep. She was uncomfortable, but not because of the floor she was lying on, something else was bothering her though she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. She tried hard not to move around much despite her discomfort, and she kept her back to Riku who had settled down a ways away, about half way between the back and entrance of the cave. She didn't want to be dependant on him, though she knew she already was. She didn't want to make him feel like she needed any help. She didn't want him to give her false pity, or even real pity for that matter. So many things she didn't want to make him think or do. She knew he'd say he wouldn't mine, but still, most of all, over everything, she didn't want to lead the life of the stranger Ansem had turned her into.  
  
From the other side of the cave, Riku could see Mariha movie around uncomfortably. He could tell by her reluctant movements that she was trying to avoid the help he would offer if she knew he was watching. Riku smiled and laughed silently at her to himself, she tries too hard. He got up from his equally uncomfortable position and quietly creped over to her. He sat beside her with his back against the rock wall and gently placed Mariha's head in his lap. She stopped moving that instant and her face relaxed into sleep. Satisfied, Riku did the same.  
  
~*~  
  
Sora just stood there, stunned for a moment even after Kairi had fled the cave, or what they called The Secret Place. I mean, he knew she had loved him, and he loved her back, but he had never really though about it. He had no idea how long he stood there, staring at the little tunnel that served as the entrance and exit to this tiny cave, finger over his mouth. She had kissed him, but surprisingly enough, he had kissed her back. Her lips were so gentle against his. He felt a feeling he couldn't explain or describe.  
  
Finally, he came to his senses as he noticed the light dimming through the small opening in the cave's roof. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it from all these sudden thoughts and feelings that flooded it now. He slowly, not in any real rush so re-join the world if Kairi was embarrassed and hiding from him, walked out the cave, through the small tunnel to the exit. He looked out to the ocean. The sun had not yet touched its glistening smooth surface but was beginning to turn the sky from its daytime blue to a glowing flame of orange and red. The scene was truly beautiful and Sora was so glad to finally be back in it.  
  
He looked around a bit as he walked more into the open, but Kairi was still nowhere in sight. Instead, he strode over to the docks, where amazingly, Donald and Goofy were still telling tales of their adventures to the awed Tidus, Wakka and Selphie. Thee three of them had seated themselves comfortably on the soft sand while Donald and Goofy stood up on the dock, adding actions as they told of when Sora single handedly defeated the god Hercules in the Coliseum. As soon as the noticed Sora approaching, Donald and Goofy froze and stopped talking to stare over at him. Noticing the sudden stop in the story, the three youths looked over to see what was going on. They saw Sora and wide grins stretched across their faces.  
  
"Sora! These guys were just telling us about all that you've done after out Island disappeared!" exclaimed Tidus excitedly, "Totally awesome! So you're the Keyblade master!"  
  
Sora managed to smile and nod. He didn't really want to talk to them about that stuff right now. He wanted to find Kairi.  
  
"Wow!" said Selphie. Her eyes were shinning and she seemed to stare into space, completely speechless.   
  
"Well then, we'll have to see how good you really are, man," said Wakka with a wink, "See if what they say is true ya?"  
  
Sora knew a challenge when he heard it, but he wasn't in the mood right now. He quickly thought up an excuse to weasel out of it for today.  
  
"Sure, I'll take all of you on! But you'll be sorry," he said genuinely grinning. He'd like nothing better than to whoop those three in a fight, well, almost nothing, "But it's getting kind of late, we'll do it tomorrow."  
  
"Yea, ok," said Tidus with a yawn, "I'm exhausted. I was up all last night from that storm we had.  
  
He yawned again.  
  
"Alright then," agreed Wakka, "Come on Selphie, I have to borrow you boat. Mines getting fixed ya?"  
  
Selphie didn't reply but continued to stare with her shinning daydreaming eyes. Wakka dragged her into the small fishing boat despite her lack of a reply and began to untie it while she just stood there, hand grasped together, still as a statue. Tidus jumped into his own boat then looked up at Sora who was on the dock now.  
  
"Hey!" he called, "Come on then! I'll give you a lift!"  
  
"Ah, no thanks," Sora called back, "I'll hitch a ride with Kairi, you're boat won't hold Donald, Goofy AND me."  
  
"You've got a point," agreed Tidus, "Well, I'll see you later then."  
  
"Yep," replied Sora. The two boys waved goodbye and Donald and Goofy hopped into the boat. Sora watched them leave, not moving from the dock until they were completely out of sight. The main island, where most of the residence and shops were, was in the middle of a circle of smaller islands that were also usually bearing a home or two on it. There wasn't a large population in all of the Destiny Islands so there was always unoccupied space. This island however, the one Sora was standing on now, was discovered by the small group of curious kids that still came everyday to pass the time. No adults ever came to it and no one really lived on it. It was more of a tropical playground for them.  
  
As the two already small fishing boats were nothing but specks closing in on the main island, Sora hopped down from the dock and walked across the beach. The very bottom outline of the sun was now just skimming the surface of the horizon and the sky was cast into an even deeper red. Some of the clouds reflected a pink and purple appearance, which made the sky seem more like a painting than real life. Then, Sora spotted a little shadow of something by the paopu tree.  
  
The tree was on a little island of its own just off the shore in the shallow waters of the ocean. A few coconut trees grew on it, but the paopu tree was the most unique part of that island. It seemed like a normal tree that had grown on an angle, giving it the appearance that it might have been pushed over and stayed there. At first glance you couldn't tell what was so special about its smooth gray bark covering its trunk or its lush green leaves that looked just like any other leaf, but its yellow star shaped fruit was the special part of it. In legend, if a person was to share the fruit with someone, there destiny's would become intertwined, always being a part of the others life, forever.  
  
Sora almost chuckled when he remembered Riku had teased that the winner of their race would get to share a paopu with Kairi. Fortunately, Sora had won but was slightly more than annoyed when Riku laughed at him and said he was just joking, because if Riku had won, he WOULD have shared the fruit with Kairi.  
  
Not funny, thought Sora but still smiled at the memory; soon, it would go back to that. Back to when they could fool around without a care.  
  
Sora made his way up to the small plateau that was level with the mini island and connected the two with a wooden bridge. As Sora had guessed, there, leaning against the sideways tree and looking out at the sunset, was Kairi. This is what the three of them, Sora, Kairi and Riku, would do almost every evening to dream of adventuring to new worlds.  
  
Sora came up behind Kairi and put a hand on her shoulder. She jumped, startled, and turned to see who it was.  
  
"O Sora!" she began standing straight to face him, "I -"  
  
"Shh," said Sora, putting a to his lips and cutting Kairi off. She blushed and looked at her feet.  
  
"Sora," she said in a whisper, "I just missed you so much." She took a step to come close enough to lock him in a hug, "I didn't know how long you would be or anything."  
  
Sora hugged her back, not saying a word. He wanted this moment to go on forever. He reluctantly released her as the sun set lower and he stared into her purily blue eyes that shone with affection.  
  
"I missed you too Kairi," he said at last, "But I promised I'd come back for you, and here I am."  
  
Kairi seemed to blush deeper. Either that of the suns dimming rays were casting the colours to reflect off her face.  
  
Without really knowing what he was doing, Sora drew Kairi closer, not taking his eyes off hers as she did the same. He bent his head down and brought it closer to her, watching as her eyes grew the closer he got. Then, he shut them gently as he felt his lips against hers. Time froze, before it, a beautiful picture of their kiss as the sun sank into the waters.  
  
When Sora released both of them from the moment he wanted to badly to go on, he opened his eyes and slowly, and rather hesitantly, brought his head up. Kairi's eyes opened as well, and there eyes still stayed locked together. Then, somehow, Sora couldn't really remember how, they ended up sitting, leaning against the paopu tree facing out to the ocean that now seemed one with the night sky. Kairi rested her head on Sora's shoulder, and after one last glance at the stars that dotted the sky, fell asleep. Sora waited. He stayed up, staring at the star-lit sky.   
  
The worlds were safe. Kairi was safe. And tomorrow, only one day would be left until Sora would open the door, and release Riku. But no matter how Sora wished everything would be back to normal between them, he knew it would not be so. They all had changed so much since the last time they were all together, goofing off on this very island. Riku had always loved Kairi as had Sora himself, so how would Riku be with Sora and Kairi together? Surly he would have known about this outcome, but still, a new worry ran through Sora. But as Kairi slept soundlessly beside him, he forced all worry and doubt out of his mind and finally settled into sleep.  
  
AN: Sorry again, and just a warning, I have no idea when the next time I'll be updating (should be within 3 weeks at max) but I WILL be finishing it so don't worry about that!! Sheeesh, who starts something and doesn't finish it anyways? Ok, later! 


	16. The Hidden Path

AN: Hi hi!!! Well, next chapter is finally up! ^-^ ok, everyone say "hi" to my best friend who is currently over!!! :P yea.. enjoy, next chapter will be up next weekend prolly (Grr that skool!)  
  
Disclaimers: Still don't own Kingdom Hearts or anything in it!! *is dead* *Best Friend: yes, but I own the world! ~.^* *sweatdrops* wuteva u say :P  
  
The Hidden Path  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
It was Naomi. She was by his side. He was sitting there, crouched into a little ball, but he wanted to shrink even smaller. Another dream of his past, something was wrong here though, he was full of sorrow. He could feel tears running down his face and felt hiccupping sobs painfully attack him.  
  
"What's wrong?" she asked again. She had a hand on his shoulder and was trying to catch his eye; though he covered his face between his knees with his are wrapped around them.  
  
"Come on, you can tell me," coaxed Naomi, "I'm just want to help you. I promise."  
  
With those words echoing through his head, Riku looked up at Naomi's face. It was clear, but he already knew he'd forget what it looked like as soon as he awoke.  
  
"Why do you care?" he said in an almost threatening tone.  
  
"Why should I?" replied Naomi with a puzzled look, "Something's bothering you, and no one deserves to be alone if they need help."  
  
Riku just stared dumbfounded. Back when he was just growing up, before he had become friends with Sora and Kairi, no one cared about him. None of the other kids would talk to him or invite him to play games, they were afraid of his eyes, afraid of his hair, his different appearance. Even the adults stayed away from him, they too, were fearful of his gaze; fearful under the gaze of those deep sea green eyes that they didn't understand. They were all afraid of him, just because he looked a little different from them. This was then, the dream a vision before Sora had ever met the small and skinny, silver-haired boy who was now curled up, crying as a girl tried to comfort him.  
  
"I've never seen you on this island before," Naomi continued, not noticing his surprise that she cared, "Did you get transferred here?"  
  
Riku nodded slowly, then began to cry again.  
  
"Oh no, wait," said Naomi, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."  
  
He couldn't believe it she really did care! Riku took a deep breath and wiped away his tears. He looked at Naomi in the calmest face he could muster. Only now did he really notice where he was; a dark alleyway in between two tall buildings he didn't recognize. It couldn't have been that late in the evening, but it was very dark out, which seemed to be caused by the clouds Riku now noticed that were dropping buckets of rain on them.  
  
"Come on," said Naomi holding out a hand, "Will you tell me inside? You'll get sick if you stay out here."  
  
Riku nodded and took the girls hand. She led him into one of the buildings. It was a poor, tattered old apartment with peeling wallpaper and sand covered floors. All Riku could see from the doorway was a hall leading down to two big swinging doors, and above, stairs leading up to the floors as well as the crashing sound of the pounding rain. Without a word, or any other sound, Riku followed Naomi up the dark staircase up two floors to come to a corridor. It was totally silent, save the rain hammering against the roof, as she brought him into one of the rooms down the corridor.  
  
As they were climbing the stairs, Riku glanced out one of the foggy and dirt smeared widows to catch what was outside. He was on an island that he had never been on before, he didn't recognize anything on it even though there wasn't much there. But now, finally in the small room bearing a little cot in one of the corners with a woolen blanket folded neatly beside it. Riku shivered. He was completely soaked.  
  
Naomi brought the blanked over to him and he took it to wrap himself up in, giving a thankful nod to her. Naomi took off the old raincoat she had been wearing and threw it aside. She then pulled out a bit of bread from a plate beside her cot that was covered with an upside down bowl. She gave it to Riku who ate it up. He was suddenly surprisingly hungry.  
  
"Ok, so how'd you end up all the way out here?" asked Naomi as Riku finished his piece of bread.  
  
"We -we got blown off course when the storm hit," replied Riku meekly.  
  
"We?"  
  
"Yea, my mama and me -" Riku stopped short, he only just remember it all now. He remembered going out with his mother on a fishing boat as she took him out for a little adventure and fun. He remembered the storm coming out of nowhere. He remembered their boat loosing control and smashing into the shores rocks. He remembered hearing that ear-piercing scream as he watched his mother get thrown overboard trying to steer away from the jagged rocks on which she fell. He remembered getting to shore somehow, as the rain and wind whipped at him. He remembered searching for his mother along the shore, calling her. He couldn't find her. He was gone, and he was alone.   
  
"She -she's gone..." he said without realizing it and felt tears at the corner of his eyes.  
  
"What about your dad?" Naomi asked carefully, "Where's he?"  
  
"I -I don't know," Riku replied, finding it harder and harder to make the words come out from his mouth. He looked up at Naomi, but instead of the pitying eyes he was expecting, hers were filled with a pain, like she knew exactly what he was feeling.  
  
"Do you have any relatives? Any friends to take care of you?"  
  
Riku really didn't see the point in all these questions; he was alone, completely alone. No, wait he wasn't, not really, Naomi was there. So even though he still didn't get at her point, for some reason he felt like he could trust her with his life, to tell her. After all, she was the only one who would listen.  
  
"N-no," stammered Riku, "No one ever talked to me or my mom. They say my eyes, they're unnatural so they stay away from me."  
  
"You're eyes?" said Naomi if she thought that was a joke, a joke that people were afraid of a little boy's eye colour. But everyone was, everyone except Naomi. Why was that anyways?  
  
"And now I'm all alone," cried Riku, that sense of trust taking over again. She wasn't afraid, he could tell her anything, "She was all I had and now she's gone!"  
  
"You're not alone," said Naomi suddenly in a very calm and relaxed voice, "I'm here, and I kind of like your eyes..."  
  
That made him smile. Naomi was the only other person, save his mother, who was unaffected by his stare that he always thought was a curse.  
  
"So what about you?" he said, "Do you live on this island?"  
  
"Yep! It's lucky you landed here too!" she said grinning.  
  
"Why? Is this you're house? Because it's really big," Riku said, "Do you think there's a small place for me to sleep in, if it's ok with you're parents, do you think I can stay a night?"  
  
Naomi's smile vanished. "It's not my house, it's an orphanage, and I'm an orphan, my parents died."  
  
Riku was taken aback and he didn't know what to say. But that would explain the look of understanding she had given him before when he hold her his parents were now both gone.  
  
"I-I'm sorry," he said finally, looking down to the floor.  
  
"That's ok," she replied, "But now you can live here too with me since you have no where else to go, unless you want to go back to the main island and find somebody..."  
  
"No, no I'll stay," he said quickly. He didn't want to go back to the place where everyone eyed him suspiciously while making sure they kept their distance, glancing down if he caught their eye for a moment. He much rather wanted to stay with someone who didn't care that his eyes were so mysterious, who cared about him.  
  
"Alright!" exclaimed Naomi excitedly, "I'll tell Yuna that you're here, and you'll get your own room and everything! There aren't really many of us living here."  
  
Riku smiled. He would like it here. But as for the memory of his mother, he forced it out of his mind. He put up a wall to block out all the memories of her they'd just pain him remembering. And besides, his home was here now maybe she didn't even exist.  
  
"Riku..." Naomi said. But was it Naomi? Her voice sounded different, he couldn't explain it, because it was her speaking no questions asked, but something was just, different about it.  
  
"Huh?" he said. Then he felt something strange inside him. He looked at his arms, his legs, himself. He was 15-years-old again!  
  
"Riku..." she sounded as if she were possessed or something.  
  
He looked up at Naomi. But she wasn't there! Instead, another figure was sitting right where she had, but she was too big to be a 5-year-old. She was probably the same age as Riku right now. Her face was in the shadows so he couldn't tell if it was Naomi or not. But it must be, that was her voice. Maybe she had just grown to 14, like he had to 15. Suddenly she tilted her head up, so her eyes meet his, and he almost cried out loud when he say who was staring back at him. It couldn't be...  
  
His eyes shot open. It couldn't be! Could it? Could Naomi really be still alive? No, it was impossible, he saw her himself, she drowned in the storm. Wait, what did she look like? He couldn't remember, just like he couldn't even remember the younger Naomi. He grunted in frustration. He knew his mind was playing with him again, teasing him.  
  
Stupid thing, he thought. He looked down however, and found Mariha still sleeping, though she had creped up to rest up against his chest. He smiled and brushed away hair from her face. He then rested his own head back down against the cave wall and stared into space, remembering, for the first time, what had really happened with the mother he never before remembered having.  
  
~*~  
  
Sora awoke early the next morning. He squinted against the light coming from the newly risen sun. Kairi was still there beside him. He dared not move for he didn't want to wake her. But, as he stayed perfectly still, just staring out over the ocean, Kairi stirred.  
  
She moaned and opened her eyes. Sora watched her with a smile. "Sora?" she said, only half awake.  
  
"I'm here," he replied, holding her close. Then, caressing her cheek, he bent over to kiss her. When they broke apart, he gazed into her eyes that he loved so much. She stared back, a warm smile spread across her lips. He was about to lean back down to kiss her again when suddenly a loud rumble emerged from Sora's stomach. He his face turned bright red and Kairi couldn't contain her laughter.  
  
"Sorry," he said still as red as ever. Way to ruin the moment! he thought, annoyed at himself. "He, come on," she said through her laughter, "I'm kind of hungry too."  
  
Sora grinned and got up, holding out his had for Kairi. They searched around the island for mushrooms and other things to eat, but when they got to the cove, Sora stopped for a moment.  
  
"It's still here," he said in a dreamy voice, "Our raft is still here."  
  
He was referring to the raft he, Kairi and Riku had built in hopes of sailing away to new worlds.  
  
"Yep, exactly where we left it," Kairi said, "I haven't moved it at all, I knew you were coming back so I didn't need to use it. I kept it standing so it would remind me of all the fun we used to have."  
  
Sora nodded. He remembered slaving over it, but having a great time nonetheless with his friends in constructing it. It took so long to complete that raft, it was really too bad they'd never really use it. The two wandered back to the main beach to find that Wakka, Selphie had arrived on the island. Wakka and Tidus were training, Wakka on the balcony where Tidus first saw Sora yesterday, and Tidus on the mini island where Sora and Kairi had slept that night.  
  
Selphie was sitting on the dock, looking out over the ocean like she did almost every day Sora could remember. Donald and Goofy were lying on the sandy beach, snoozing as they basked in the warm sun.  
  
"Hey why don't you go to meet Donald and Goofy?" suggested Sora looking over at Kairi who was standing beside him, "There's something I need to do."  
  
Kairi nodded then skipped away to the lazy Donald and Goofy. Sora grinned then went over and up to the balcony to meet with Wakka, after all, he didn't promise the overconfident boy a duel.  
  
"Hey!" said Wakka when Sora walked up to him, "You ready?"  
  
"I was born ready," replied Sora. Wakka tossed a wooden sword over to Sora who caught it.  
  
"Remember that?" joked Wakka. The little wooden sword was nowhere near as powerful and strong as Sora's Keyblade. But then again, Wakka's weapon was as equally as strong as the sword, his Blitzball. Sora slashed at the air a couple of times to get the feel of his new, err, old weapon. Yea, I guess this is fair, thought Sora. After all, he'd totally annihilated Wakka if he used his Keyblade.  
  
"Lets go," said Sora and they climbed down onto the beach. Tidus noticed them from where he was practicing and immediately came over to watch.  
  
"Ready!" he called from the dock. Sora went into this fighting stance, ready for an attack, "Start!"  
  
Sora charged.  
  
~*~  
  
Mariha awoke. She felt so comfortable lying there. For a moment she didn't know where she was, so she kept her eyes closed and hugged her pillow with a little moan of sleepiness. Then she remembered. She had fallen asleep in a cave, but what she was lying on didn't feel like a rock floor, and she knew that she didn't have a pillow. Her eyes shot open. She slowly turned her head to see what she was sleeping on. She looked up and saw Riku's face looking down at her.  
  
"Oh!" she said and sprung off of Riku. She blushed deeply, "I-I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were there."  
  
"No, it's ok," Riku replied, "I thought you might be lonely or something so I came over."  
  
Mariha attempted a smile and blushed again. Riku then got up and stretched with a yawn.  
  
"I guess we should keep going then," said Riku, "I mean, tomorrow Sora will be ready to open that door and we still haven't even found this light yet!"  
  
"Um, ok," said Mariha, "But I hope we find it in time, because we're running out of it."  
  
"Yea," sighed Riku. He needed to find it; he couldn't screw up this time.  
  
Mariha made her way to the exit of the cave to be welcomed by the same death threatening rocks as before. Riku sighed from where he was still standing near the back of the cave. At this rate, they'd never find the light in time. Why did Ansem have to delay them for so long? Curse him! Riku was about to go over to Mariha when he noticed something from the corner of his eye.  
  
"Hey Mariha," he called from the back of the cave, "Come check this out."  
  
She turned and looked at him with a puzzled expression, but when over anyway. Though she didn't know what could be worth seeing in an empty cave.  
  
"Well, I think I might've found another way out of here," said Riku grinning at her. He pointed to a large crack in the cave wall she had never noticed before.  
  
"Hey, that wasn't there before," she said.  
  
"We mush have missed it, after all, we were really tired," said Riku with a shrug.  
  
"I guess..." Mariha didn't know. She didn't know if going through there was safe. It wasn't just that she was afraid of being deep in the cave or anything, it was because somehow, she got the feeling Ansem was setting another trap for them.  
  
"Well come on!" said Riku ducking into the dark passage.  
  
"Wait!" called Mariha, "I'm not sure about this..."  
  
"It's better than getting sliced into a zillion pieces out there," replied Riku, head popping out from the crack and tilting his toward the rocks outside.  
  
"But how will we see where we're going?" asked Mariha, trying to think of any excuse to not go through, "It's so dark in there, and there might be heartless..."  
  
"No problem," said Riku. He stepped out of the tunnel and pulled something out of his pockets. It was a stick of that blue glowing energy.  
  
"I couldn't help but nab one from before," said Riku with sly grin, "You can just use you're fire magic to light it and we'll use it as a torch."  
  
"Umm..." She couldn't avoid it. Riku was set on gong and it would be impossible to change his mine once it was made up, he was stubborn like that. She didn't have the energy to argue anyways. No matter how much she told herself it would be fine to go through, it didn't do anything to truly convince herself.  
  
"Ok," she said finally with sigh. Riku held out the stick and with a mumble of 'fire' from Mariha, that torch was lit and burning brightly. Riku held out the hand that wasn't holding the torch and with a slight hesitation, Mariha took it.  
  
They stepped into the dark, tight tunnel and began walking slowly down into long passageway. The top of the tunnel was high above them but the path was very narrow. So narrow that in some places, Mariha had to go through sideways to avoid getting scratched up by the ridged and uneven walls.  
  
"Riku," she said following him and holding tightly to his hand, "This doesn't seem right. What if it's a trap?"  
  
Riku stopped and turned to her. Mariha could see in the flickering firelight that a warm smile broke out across his face.  
  
"Don't worry, remember, I promised I wouldn't bail on you," he said, "Just don't let go of my hand and we won't get separated."  
  
Mariha smiled a bit but looked down as soon as Riku turned to go forward again. She forced herself to believe him. After all, they were already deep within this tunnel, so if anything going to happen, it probably would've happened already.  
  
They walked and walked. Nothing but empty darkness ahead and behind. Mariha's legs were getting tired. They hadn't stopped to rest once since they started what seemed like hours ago. She had no idea how long they had been going but it seemed like forever. Then, Riku stopped so suddenly that she bumped into him as she had been staring into the endless abyss behind them.  
  
"Oh, sorry," she said, looking at the back of his head, "Hmm? Why'd you stop?"  
  
She peered over his shoulder and saw what seemed like a tall stone door. What's with this place and doors? thought Mariha, "What is it?' she asked anyway as Riku just continued to stare at it.  
  
"Here, hold this," he said handing her the torch. She took it and stood perfectly still as Riku went closer to the smooth gray stone door. He ran his hands around it, looking for a crack or handle to open it with.  
  
She stood and watched, clutching to the torch. His back was turned to her; turned and unprotected. A voice suddenly rang through her ears and took over. 'Use the torch, kill him.' She couldn't resist it. A thrust suddenly came over her, a thrust for a kill. She took a step closer to him. Then she took another. She would taste his blood. Another step. He still had his back turned, still was unaware of her approaching. Coming closer and closer, with the torch raised over her head, ready to knock him with it. Her eyes were blank, as her thrust for the kill grew stronger.  
  
AN: heh heh, I'll leave you hanging for a week *evil grin* I'm SOO EVIL MUWHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!! *cough* um... yes... *rolls eyes* 


	17. Time Flies

AN: WOW, OMG I am so sorry! XD I can't believe I've been so bad! How long has it been now... close to 3 months since I've updated? Aww, I'm soo very sorry *bows* but it's crazy being in high school :S messes ya up! Anyways, here's the next chapter, sorry again! (I'm so evil *evil laugh* *fans chase me with a giant lollie pop* HA HA!! I lost all my fans, you can't attack me! *fans..... poof*  
  
Disclaimers: Yea, I still don't own Kingdom Hearts or anything in it. I really hate saying this over and over cuz it's annoying but if I don't' I might get sued that we don't' want that to happen now do we? (Rhetorical question!! *fans: AWW*  
  
Time Flies  
  
"Haven't you had enough already?" Sora said as the three beaten youths lying on the sand, panting. He had just whooped all of them in a three-on-one fight.  
  
"Ok, so you have gotten better," said Wakka between pants.  
  
"A lot better," added Tidus.  
  
Selphie just sat there, defeated, but then went to the edge of the dock to stare out and daydream again.  
  
"Wow, do you think you could teach me some of your moves some time?" asked Tidus, slapping Sora playfully across the back.  
  
"Don't forget me," said Wakka pointing at himself with him thumb.  
  
"Sure," said Sora. He had to admit, it was fun being the best for change, "But I'm going to head in. I want to get to the main island early today."  
  
"Ok, Wakka and I will practice," said Tidus. The two boys bounded away and immediately started battling against each other.  
  
"Sora," said a voice from behind him. It was Kairi's and he turned to face her, "Come on, you can come with me in my boat."  
  
She smiled and Sora couldn't help but smile back.  
  
'I'm going to go back too," said Selphie getting up, "You sure gave me a work out there Sora."  
  
"Ok, hey do you mind if Donald and Goofy tag along in you're boat?" asked Sora as the two came up behind him.  
  
"Sure," replied Selphie with a smile. They all got into the boats. Sora and Kairi was in one and Selphie, Donald and Goofy in the other. The two vessels made their way across the water toward the large main island of Destiny Islands. The sun still hadn't set by the time they docked and went their separate ways.  
  
"Bye, see you tomorrow Selphie," Sora and Kairi each said.  
  
"Hey, Sora," said Kairi. Sora looked over to her and she took a step closer. She leaned up and kissed him gently, "Good night."   
  
Sora watched as she skipped away toward the mayor's house where she was found and where she had been welcomed to stay. Sora turned and with Donald and Goofy at his back, headed toward his own house.  
  
"Hey, where did you two guys stay last night anyway?" Sora asked, coming to a stop.  
  
"Well, you're friends told the mayor about how we help bring back the words so he gave us free rooms in a motel," answered Goofy.  
  
"Ah, ok then," said Sora and continued walking.   
  
When he finally reached the foot of the door to his house, he stopped and stared for a moment. Questions flooded into his mind. What would his parents think of Donald and Goofy? What would they say when he told then about him being the key bearer and saving countless words from the darkness? Had they even remembered him? Had they been looking for him? Or did they give him up for dead?  
  
Sora forced all these thoughts out of his head for a moment and raised his hand to the doorknob. Slowly, he turned it, pushed the door open and gazed into the home he hand not seen for what seemed like forever.  
  
~*~  
  
She came right up behind him. All she needed to do was slam the end of the torch stick against Riku's head then she might just burn him alive once he was down. She was breathing heavy. She had to do it; do it, kill him.  
  
'Yes,' said the voice inside her head, 'Do it, kill that good-for-nothing boy!'  
  
Riku was still examining the wall when he heard Mariha behind. He could hear her breathing, panting almost right behind him. Something was wrong. He spun around quickly and caught that end of the stick that was aimed for his head. Mariha clutched it still, Riku's hands over hers to stop the impact of the blow, and stared at him in surprise.  
  
When he looked at her, when she saw him, she let go of the torch, which fell to the ground, rolling a little as it landed. She still stared at him, stunned by surprise.  
  
"Mariha?" said Riku looking at her in confusion.  
  
She didn't reply, but stayed completely motionless. It seemed as if her body was just an empty shell, with no soul or mind. Riku gazed into her eyes, but they were blank and hollow. It's Ansem! It must be!  
  
"Let her go!" he yelled and grabbed her shoulders and shaking her with great force, "You better leave her alone you!"  
  
Then he felt it, the evil essence that was inside her, it lifted and darted away. Mariha went limp in his arms.  
  
"Are you ok?" Riku asked. Mariha opened her eyes and stared at him with a puzzled look.  
  
"Yea, why wouldn't I be?" she said, eyes whole again, "Hey, what happened?"  
  
"You -a... nothing."  
  
"Okaaaaaaaaaay...."  
  
"You sure you feel alright?" asked Riku again, he wanted to make sure it was Mariha who was in there.  
  
"Riku, you're creeping me out," she replied, "Are YOU ok?"  
  
"O, sorry," Riku muttered, "I guess this place is just making me uptight."  
  
"Sure is, hey, is that the door out of here?"  
  
"Huh?" said Riku looking over his shoulder, "O, yea it is."  
  
"Well, aren't you going to open it?" asked Mariha, still kneeling on the floor while Riku stood up and stared at the door, thought it looked more like he was looking right through it.  
  
What had just happened? He knew it was Ansem who possessed her like that, but how? Maybe that dark thing did it for him. She was back, no doubt about it, but, and Riku feared the thought for a second, Ansem was getting closer to him, closer to breaking him.  
  
"Riku!"  
  
Mariha's call brought him back into reality.  
  
"Riku, come on," she said and Riku only realized now that she was pushing on the big doors, "Help me with this will you!"  
  
Riku went over and began pushing on the door. It was really heavy. He pushed with all his strength, not like there was much left, and both of them combined couldn't even move it an inch. Mariha slumped against it in exhaustion after pushing on it for a couple minutes, and Riku put one hand on it to support himself.  
  
What if they couldn't get out of that tunnel? It already took them so long to get to this end, it'd take up too much time to go back, and then to have to go over those rocks could take days since they still didn't know how long it stretched for.   
  
No! Riku yelled at himself, I won't let this stop us, I can't be late to meet Sora he can't wait forever for me. Riku had a passion so strong to go home, nothing could stop him, nothing would, not even this stupid door that would open! Where was his heart? Right when he needed it, it wasn't there. But with that determination to be back on his island again, a determination even greater than he had ever felt before, he felt it. He found it. His heart's light, it was back! The one he had when he was an innocent child on an island where no one understood him.  
  
Riku took a glance from the floor to the door. He would open it no matter what! Suddenly, he thought he saw a speck of light appear on the stone surface, forming something on the door. It -it looked like a keyhole! Riku stared at it in shock then thought he felt something shoot out from his body, from his heart, like an invisible energy. But suddenly the door he was leaning on began to move. And the keyhole disappeared into another speck of light, fading away into nothing.  
  
"Riku," Mariha gasped, confused yet amazed, "It's moving!"  
  
He looked at the door with the same confused and surprised expression on his face. He took his hand off from the door. Then door stopped moving. Riku looked at his hands.  
  
"Mariha, hurry! Help me push!"   
  
Together they pushed, and to door slowly creaked open. When the two stopped pushing, the doors stopped, and they stared out into the dark waist land of Kingdom Hearts once more. Riku looked over to Mariha and was glad to see a big simile on her face.  
  
"Whew! We're finally out!" she said, stepping out of the tunnel. Then adding with a glace over her shoulder at Riku, "I guess you were right, I didn't have anything to worry about with going through there."  
  
"Umm... yea," was all Riku said, looking away from her glance awkwardly. She didn't know... she didn't need to know.  
  
"Hey Riku," he heard her say from a surprisingly close distance. He looked in her direction and almost jumped backwards when he saw her face so close to his. It must've been no more than two or three centimeters away from his nose to hers.  
  
He didn't realize he was staring at her with his mouth gawking open and face bushing a deep red, until she laughed and tugged on his arm.  
  
"Catch me if you can!" she said, pushing him over before turning and bolting into a run.  
  
"Hey!" shouted Riku as he fell against the rock wall behind him. Mariha stopped and looked back over at him, making taunting faces at him.   
  
"O I'm so going to get you for that!" he called, rubbing his shoulder from the impact of the rock with it and chasing after her.  
  
Mariha started running again as soon as he did, but even with her head start, Riku was still faster and eventually caught up with her. He grabbed her arm and she swung around, trying to get free. But as she pulled, she stumbled and fell forwards, landing on Riku. They both fell to the ground, Riku stuck under Mariha.  
  
At first they both blushed as Riku let go of her arm and she tried to get off of him. Then she rolled over and started to laugh when he pushed her over. They say there, just laughing for a moment. They weren't laughing at anything, it wasn't that funny, but they laughed. Laughter was a way to cover their despair in the journey that seemed to get more and more hopeless as they went, to let them forget for a second about their dark reality.  
  
They had stopped close to the start of a steep rocky hill. There were those black mushroom things around on side of a sort of path leading up, so Riku and Mariha took shelter under one of them. They hadn't said a word to each other while they crouched under the little roof of the strange plantlike thing as they came back into their desperate world of reality once more. The silence was then broken, but not by a voice, by Riku's stomach growling. He blushed in embarrassment while Mariha giggled.  
  
"Hey, how about some of that soup you made last time?" he asked.  
  
"Yea, I'm starving too," replied Mariha then crawled out to gather her ingredients. As Riku watched her go here and there picking up things as she went, another pang of hunger ran through him in an agonizing moan.  
  
Yea, yea, he thought. But then, come to think of it, they hadn't had a proper meal all throughout their stay in Ansems dungeon. But that was no wonder anyways. Riku and Mariha had been living off the little bowl of water they'd get everyday and Mariha had used some for Riku's injuries even then.  
  
Riku pulled up his shirt and looked at himself. He was so skinny! Nothing but skin and bones. But man he'd have fun filling it all up again! He felt like he could eat a world! This world in fact, it's not like anyone would miss its dark loneliness.   
  
Riku chuckled a bit. He remembered when he was younger, back on his island, he was fascinated by how much Sora ate and yet stayed as skinny as ever. Yep, Sora had the stomach and Riku had the muscles. But now, Riku guessed that he probably had a bigger stomach than Sora, after being starved, and Sora would probably be able to beat Riku in a physical competition since he was now the key bearer. Actually, Sora had beaten Riku before, in Hollow Bastion, twice really, but the second had been Ansem controlling Riku's body so it didn't really count.  
  
"Crazy how everything's the opposite now," he said to himself. After all, even though Mariha was still cheery, she became easily afraid thanks to that stupid Ansem; which wasn't like her before.  
  
"Hmm?" said Mariha ducking in beside him, arms full of the things Riku recognized from the last time she cooked.  
  
"Nothing," replied Riku. Mariha shrugged then when to work making the fire then mixing up the soup. When the both of them were fed to the max, Riku rested against the base of the mushroom thing they were under and made a deep sigh.  
  
"Ah, that's better," he said. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes. After a few moments, he heard Mariha creep next to him and felt her head rest on his shoulder. He opened one eye to look at her then yawned and stretched his arm around her. She snuggled closer, wrapping her arms around his waist and now resting her head to the side of his chest. Then, they both fell into sleep.  
  
~*~  
  
Sora lay in his bed. Back in his room that was exactly the way he had left it. Cloths still scattered the floor, toys and games stashed messily on the shelves, and his little model sailboat hanging in its place from the ceiling.  
  
His parents had taken his news very well, which he thought was just a bit odd. They sat and listened while he ran through everything that had happened. His mom didn't freak out like he thought she would. His dad didn't scold him for getting into those dangerous situations. No, they somehow understood completely why Sora had to do all the things he did. They trusted him to make the right decisions. But it seemed like something more. It seemed like they knew exactly what was going on... but how could that be?  
  
Sora's parents had let Donald and Goofy stay in the spare bedroom and were very kind to them. But it was late now. Sora only just realized how long it had really been since all of his adventures. So he lay in bed now, glad to be in his soft bed once again. He lay there staring out his window, exactly like he had when he first noticed the storm that had started it all. So, as he had all that time ago, he lay there, unable to shake of the excitement about tomorrow. The day after tomorrow, Sora would set Riku free, then everyone would be safely back at last.  
  
Sora was so excited about seeing his old friend again, he forgot about those questions that worried him before. Only one question was able to leek into his mind. 'Will it still be like old times when he gets back?' but Sora already knew the answer to this one. Surprisingly, it didn't bother him as much now that it did before. After all that answer was obvious from the start. That answer, was no.  
  
~*~  
  
Riku was back in his six-year-old body and mind. He had been living with Naomi in the orphanage for three months now. There was no real caretaker for the orphanage, only a young, but very smart 14-year-old girl named Yuna who acted as everyone's big sister. She was the one who took care of everyone, being the oldest, by watching over the younger children as they played and making sure there was food to feed their hungry stomachs. Yuna also had a bit of healing magic so all of the children could stay healthy and well.  
  
After Yuna, Riku was the next oldest. There were only seven kids in their little family. Yuna; Naomi at five; a four-year-old girl named Tifa; Riona, same aged girl as Tifa; a quiet two-year-old who hardly ever left Yuna's side called Zack; and infant boy named Zadain; and Riku himself. Bur Riku never really spoke to the other kids save Naomi. All of them, even Yuna, were uncomfortable in his presence. So, Riku would take the only little fishing boat on the island and, with Naomi, they would go out to explore the seas.  
  
One day, out on the water, Riku decided to go farther out that he had gone before. The two eventually landed on the little island that Riku would now remember as the one he used to visit everyday with Sora and Kairi.  
  
"Wow, I didn't know this was here," said Naomi as they tied up their boat on the dock conveniently built there.  
  
"Me neither," added Riku. Wide-eyed he gazed all around him. The sun was shining on a sandy beach. There were huge trees with massive trunks that many seemed to stand as tree houses. It was the most beautiful place he had ever seen. It was like a paradise island. Then, something caught his ear... it was laughter.  
  
"Hey look," said Naomi pointing, "Looks like other people know about this place too."  
  
Sure enough, there were four kids running along the beaches playing tag. They looked to be about the same age as Riku and Naomi and didn't notice the pair looked down at them. They ran in a line. The first runner was a dark-skinned boy with flaming red hair. The second, Riku recognized from his home on the main island, was a short boy with messy blond hair. The third was a girl with short blond hair that flipped outwards towards the bottom. And finally, the last boy, who apparently was also "it", was a lanky kid with light brown hair, even messier that the blond boy's, with bouncing blue eyes.  
  
That boy, the brown haired one, was the first to notice Riku and Naomi standing there. He stopped running and stared at them, or was he staring at Riku?   
  
Oh no, Riku thought. They were all the same. More kids to scare because of his different appearance. Naomi, however, smiled and waved cheerfully and nudged Riku to do the same. He smiled meekly and waved his hand a bit. Surprisingly, the boy grinned and waved back. He left the others to run as he bounded up to Naomi and Riku.  
  
"Hi," he said cheerfully, "My name's Sora."  
  
"Hello, I'm Naomi."  
  
The new boy, Sora, looked over at Riku, waiting for his name. Riku just stared. This boy, he wasn't afraid of him! Maybe this was a sign that he was getting a fresh start, that these other kids wouldn't be afraid of him either! He totally zoned out and was only brought back when Naomi elbowed him in the side.  
  
"Huh? O! I'm R-Riku," he stuttered, still dazed that more people seemed to be less afraid of him these days.  
  
Sora smiled with a little nod. "Hey, you wanna play with us?"  
  
Riku still couldn't believe it. Was it all to good to be true? He nodded vigorously.   
  
"Ok," said Sora. He turned and called over to his companions, "Hey you guys! They're gonna play too ok?"  
  
The other three children had been watching their friend confront the two new strangers the whole time but kept their distance. They were all staring frightfully at Riku.   
  
Riku's heart sank. He knew it! It WAS all too good to be true. As he gazed up at the redheaded youth, the boy quickly glanced away. It was just like at home. He wasn't welcome here. But still, this boy Sora wasn't scared of him. Riku still didn't know why Naomi was unaffected by his looks and now Sora? It was all so confusing.  
  
"Guys, this is Riku and Naomi," Sora announced proudly, no noticing his friends' uneasiness. He then turned to Riku, "The girl is Selphie, Wakka's that one with the orange hair and Tidus is the blond."  
  
Despite Selphie, Wakka and Tidus' uneasiness around Riku, they all played tag together until the sun was low in the sky. Mind you, Riku noticed that Selphie and the others would never run after him. Finally, Selphie, Tidus and Wakka went home but Sora stayed back to talk to Riku some more.  
  
"So, where do you live?" he asked, "I've never seen you on the main island before, although we did just move to it."  
  
Naomi opened her mouth to reply but Riku cut her off before a word was said.  
  
"On one of the other islands, not the main island," Riku replied, "But pretty far from this one, that's why we've never come here before."  
  
Naomi gave him a questioning look. Why did he cut her off? Riku gave her a look that she could read no problem: just follow my lead. He hadn't lied at all about where they lived, but he hadn't mentioned them living in an orphanage either. But, if he didn't want Sora to know, I guess it was ok since no lie was told. It's not like it was that big of a deal anyways.  
  
"That's neat," Sora said, "Well, it was fun playing with you, I gotta get back... see you tomorrow?"  
  
"Definitely," said Naomi. She took a sideways glance at Riku and could tell by the combined surprised and excited look on his face from the invitation to come back and play with this boy that he wouldn't be able to say anything.  
  
Sora grinned then with a wave goodbye, jumped into his boat and paddled away. Riku sat on the dock as Naomi got up to wave over to Sora out on the water. He still couldn't believe it, and he didn't know if he ever would. He finally had friends, playmates to have fun with, to talk to. After he thought the entire world hated him, there were still these two who would be by his side. He promised himself from then on, that he'd put his friends first. That he'd do anything for them. After all, if everyone else hated you, wouldn't you do the same for the few that accepted you?  
  
AN: XD ME SORRY AGAIN!!!! Aww, there's prolly no one left to read this anymore cuz i prolly took to long so they left! O.o *sigh* the things i bring upon myself-_- anywho, hope ya like that up there *points to the chapter* yea, i wouldn't hold your breath for the next update if i were you... but i'll *try* to get it up pretty soon.... yea, later then! 


	18. From Past to Present

A/N: O my goodness I am sooo sorry! Yes, I kno I haven't updated in like, half a year, but I swear, skool and exams will be the death of me. Plus I had insane writers block on this, and was debating on whether or not to even finish it! XD sorry again! Hmm, wondering if anyone even cares anymore -- sigh  
  
Disclaimers: Kingdom Hearts still isn't mine... meh I wish the real owners of it would hurry up with KH:CoM and KH2 tho....  
  
From Past to Present  
  
She was up at the crack of dawn. The glowing sun was just peeking up from the ocean-covered horizon. Kairi slipped out of the sleepy main island on which she lived, took her little boat, and paddled to that small play-ground of an island. It was deserted, too early for the others. But how could she sleep when the day had finally come? How could she do anything but think of him; Riku. Today was the day. So as she stood in front of that plain wooden door like she had everyday, waiting for Sora to return, but she thought now of Riku. They would all be together at last, after so long. Sora was home, and it was Riku's turn.  
  
Riku yawned and awoke. He opened an eye and looked down. Mariha was still by his side, sleeping soundly. Riku closed his eye and yawned again. Then, his eyes shot open as adrenalin of excitement flowed through him. Today was the day! Sora would open the door today. He'd be free, and they'd all be back together again!  
  
He of up, somehow without waking Mariha, and crept out of their little shelter. He stood up tall and stretched. He looked around at the darkness of this world. HA! He laughed at it. He'd finally be rid of this place. He'd had enough of the darkness, enough of its tricks of pain and torcher. He was so happy; happier than he could ever remember being. He felt like dancing, singing, ANYTHING! But his rejoice stopped short. There was still one thing he needed to do first. He needed to find the light.   
  
Even though today was his last chance to return home and he still needed to find the light of Kingdom Hearts, there was no distress or anxiousness coursing through him. No, he'd find it that was for sure, right at the ideal moment he knew it would be revealed. He knew in his heart, it was close. He could feel it calling to him, the light were all hearts are born. He closed his eyes. He saw nothing but empty blackness inside of him. He dove deeper. There, a small flicker! A tiny spark pulsed inside of him, his own hearts light.   
  
Good, he thought happily, the darkness no longer has me. Ansem tried to drown my soul in darkness, but finally I've found my light again!  
  
The light of all hearts, the light of Kingdom Hearts, it was drawing his own light to it. He opened his eyes. He needed to follow his heart. He glanced back over his shoulder. Mariha was still sleeping. She looked so peaceful, so content so Riku did not wake her. Instead he turned away.  
  
I'll come back for her later, or she will follow, he thought, I cannot wait another moment.  
  
He bent down, close to the ground, and with his finger drew and arrow pointing up the hill.  
  
"There," he whispered, "Now Mariha, follow me if you wake before I return, if I return."  
  
He stood up again and without looking back, went up that steep hill by the light of his heart.  
  
"It's dark and cold... I'm all alone... Within my soul... and empty hole...Is my fate... To love, to hate...I play my song... Sad and long... So far away... The light of day... Shines bright and warm... But I'm forlorn... Yet I will fight... for my only light..."  
  
When Mariha awoke, she found herself alone. Riku was not beside her. She yawned and crawled out from under the shelter.  
  
"Wow," she said aloud as she yawned again, "I must have been out cold, I didn't even notice that he left."  
  
She sighed deeply before noticing something scratched into the dirt by her feet. She bent down to get a closer look at the arrow shape someone had drawn. She moved her eyes up to where it pointed, up the hill.  
  
Did you leave this for me Riku? she thought, Did you want me to follow?  
  
She sighed again. "Well, I guess I'll go, it's not like there's anything else to do..."  
  
She yawned one last time then started walking up the steep hill. When looking at it at first, it didn't seem so big, but as Mariha walked, it didn't seem like she was getting any closer to the top. Finally, her patience wore out and she picked up her pace.  
  
"Stupid-hill-your-not-that-big-ahrg!" she said between breaths as she broke out into a run. It didn't last too long though. She quickly stopped to catch her breath.   
  
Stupid hill, she thought and kicked at the dirt, which cause dust to fly into the air making her cough, Stupid dirt...  
  
She continued climbing, still irritated at everything that annoyed her in the slightest. You could tell that she had just about had enough of this place... plus maybe she has too much unusable energy in her. As she continued muttering about random things, she didn't notice how close to the top she was. Suddenly, she thought she heard voices. She stopped dead in her tracks and fell silent. Someone was yelling.  
  
She looked up, only a few steps from the top! Finally! she thought. She went to take a step when she heard voices again. Who could be there? She slowly crept up, she didn't know if it was friend or foe, and she didn't want to take her chances, especially since that bastard Ansem took away her sword.   
  
As she crept, the clearer she could hear the voices. There were at least two. The first was Riku's she could tell without a doubt, but who was he talking to? Sora maybe? She didn't know what he sounded like. She kept just below the edge of the hill, so as not to be seen and strained her ears to pick up the other voice. It was quieter than Riku's, because Riku was yelling and the other was just talking normally, from further away too no doubt. But the second voice was raised in a menacing laugh. That wasn't Sora, it couldn't have been, she recognized it all too well. Ansem had found them.  
  
Sora yawned and rolled over. Not really noticing how close to the edge of his bed he already was, he fell off and laded on the ground with a thud.  
  
"Huh?" he sat up frantically and summoned his Keyblade to him, ready to attack, even though he was still half asleep. He jumped when he heard a knock on his door.  
  
"Sora? You ok in there?" came a familiar voice.  
  
"Wha? O yea, you can come in Goofy," Sora replied and yawned again as Goofy pushed open his bedroom door.   
  
"Mornin'!" he said cheerfully, "How'd you sleep?"  
  
"Ahh! It feels so great to finally be home on my own bed!" Sora said with his thousand dollar grin. Goofy chuckled.  
  
"Care for some breakfast?" he asked.  
  
Sora jumped up like a shot. "You bet!" It'd been a long time since he'd had his mothers cooking.  
  
Goofy went downstairs, and after Sora quickly got dressed in some fresh, clean new clothes, followed his nose to the breakfast table.  
  
"Good morning Sora," his mother said, "Pancakes?"  
  
"Yes please!" exclaimed Sora. He didn't need to be asked twice, one of Sora's favourite things to do was to eat. He especially loved his mother's food, which he hadn't had in such a long time.   
  
He took three pancakes at once and poured syrup all over them. Donald and Goofy watched in awe as he then began shoveling them into his mouth. Within minutes the pancakes were gone. Donald and Goofy just stated with mouths open at Sora as he got up and stacked his dishes in the sink.  
  
"Ready to go guys?" he said to the two, then noticed them starting, "What? Do I have something on my face?"  
  
"Sora-" Donald began but Goofy cut him off  
  
"Yup, Kairi already is at the island."  
  
"What? Why didn't you wake me!"  
  
"You just looked so comfortable sleeping there," replied his mother, "Besides, she was up way before any of us, she left you this note though."  
  
Sora took the note from his mother, unfolded it and read it. In Kairi's neat loopy handwriting, it read:  
  
"I'll be waiting for you"  
  
"Thanks mom, I need to go now," said Sora as he folded the note and shoved it in his pocket.  
  
"Ok, be home in time for dinner."  
  
With a quick nod, Sora hoped out the door, Donald and Goofy not far behind. He ran down the sunny streets to the harbor, got his boat and started for the small island. He was so excited he almost started rowing without untying the rope from the boat to the dock.  
  
Finally, finally, finally! I can't believe it at last! Riku, you'll be home, everything will go back to normal again!  
  
She slowly stood, now at the very top of the hill. No, it couldn't be. She saw it, but she wished she was dreaming again. This was no dream. No, how could it be...  
  
The scene was exactly the same; the cliff, the plain, Riku ahead, and him above. It was exactly like her dream. But she could see him now. Ansem; merged with one of his heartless minions. But how could this be? It was just a dream. It was going to happen all over again. She wouldn't be able to stop it. No this can't be happening! She fell to her knees, clutching her head. It's a trick, please say it's not real!  
  
Riku was ahead, he had come to the top of the hill to find and open plain with a dangerous looking cliff to one side. He kept walking, wary of its edge, but something caught his eye. He looked above, and there was Ansem, perched up on a floating ledge of rock. He was already ready for battle, already merged with his guardian heartless.  
  
"Ansem..."  
  
"Riku my boy, what a surprise!"  
  
"How did you -how'd you find me!"  
  
"Did you forget already? I live inside your heart, I'm always with you, I can always find you."  
  
"Shut up!"  
  
"Though I was a bit surprised to see that Natia didn't kill you after all."  
  
"It's too late Ansem, you're finished!" Riku yelled.  
  
"Ha! Foolish boy, you have no weapon, no companions to save you. You're a lost puppy running blindly through the dark."  
  
"That's what you think, you're the fool Ansem!"  
  
"Don't even try to bluff, I can see through you remember?"  
  
"I don't need to lie, and you're not a part of me anymore," Riku smirked, "Because I've found it."  
  
"What! No, it's impossible!" shrieked Ansem.  
  
"It's all over," Riku said and chuckled mockingly.  
  
Ansem was struck dumb. It can't end here! He would make sure this ignorant fool wouldn't defeat him. Not now, not EVER!  
  
"Riku!"  
  
"Huh?" Riku spun around. No, how'd she get there? Mariha was there, a few meters away from them. She had a terror stricken face and just, stared at him. A memory flashed before him, that face...  
  
"You will not defeat me!" Ansem roared and shot a needle of darkness toward Mariha. Riku recovered just in time.  
  
"No!" He ran to her. He could not let her down.  
  
She could see him running. It wasn't a trick. It was real. There's got to be something she can do! She started to run toward him.  
  
"Riku STOP!" she screamed.  
  
He faltered. That face flashed at him again. Then again. Then the whole picture came together. Lost in the memories his run failed. No way, that's just impossible!  
  
He couldn't see Mariha anymore. All he could see was that face, and he stared in shock. An ear-piercing scream brought him back to reality. He looked ahead. Ansems attack struck Mariha just below her heart. He hadn't been fast enough. He stared at her in shock. How could this happen? She only stared back blankly as pain washed her face.  
  
"NO!" He ran again. Her face turned pale white and she stumbled backward, eyes glazing over. The cliff was right behind her, but her steps kept going back. She was going to fall off!  
  
"Mariha hold on!" Riku was almost there. Just a few more steps. He lashed his hand out to catch her, as she did the same. He had her, he could practically feel her hand grab his. But he missed. She fell backward, down into the endless abyss.   
  
Riku fell to his knees. Everything was a blur. He couldn't even hear Ansem laughing not far behind him. It was impossible, but that was her face. He found her at last. A flash; he was running to the girl, trying to catch her hand before the wave struck. Her face. More memories; just like the one he saw sinking down through the water. And lost her the same way.  
  
"NAOMI!"   
  
A/N: Again, I'm sorry, but here are mini rainbow cookies to amuse you for a while! sweatdrops summer's almost here and I'll be done exams soon, so I'll have the next chappy up SOON! My goal, before next week! - 


	19. The Door is Open

A/N: Wee! Lookie I kept my promise! - next chappy up within the week! Hehe, I just love summer! Well, this one is kinda long... meh, it kept me from having to vacuum my pool at least XD  
  
Disclaimer: Don't you ppl get it? Sure it might have taken me YEAERS to update, but u think I own Kingdom Hearts yet? Hehe... I wish....  
  
The Door is Open  
  
Her eyes were close as she became lost in her mind. Suddenly, echoing off the stonewalls, she heard someone call. It was faint and distant. She opened her eyes as the echo slowly became closer and louder.  
  
"Kairi!" It was Sora.  
  
Kairi rose from where she was sitting. She was in the secret place, in front of the black wooden door. When Sora first arrived, she thought she would never have to sit there and dream of her friends return again. But she was here again. This would defiantly be the last day though. Riku would be coming home.  
  
"Kairi! O, here you are," she heard Sora say as he came around the entrance tunnels corner.   
  
"Sorry, I couldn't really sleep," she said with a smile.  
  
"Yea me... not too?" said Sora. They both laughed.  
  
"O how intelligent," said Kairi in a playfully sarcastic tone. After their laughing finally died down, Donald and Goofy appeared.  
  
"Well Sora, today's the day," said Goofy.  
  
"Yea, Goofy and I have to go soon Sora," said Donald, "But we'll wait until Riku's here too."  
  
Sora smiled. "Thanks guys, I'm gonna miss you too!"  
  
With that, he jumped Donald and flung his arm around the ducks neck to give him a proper noogie on his feathery head.  
  
"SORA!" he quacked trying to get away. Everyone laughed.  
  
"Riku!" she yelled. She didn't know what else to do. The only thing she could think about was talking to Riku; she needed to tell him what was going to happen, so they could stop it. She noticed Ansem smirk. Damn it! Bad idea. Ansem shot something at her. She stared wide-eyed. No, it was happening again. She could already see Riku running toward her.  
  
"Riku STOP!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. She knew he wouldn't stop, but she needed to warn him anyway. But then something surprised her. Riku was slowing down! She almost smiled, but then she noticed something else. His face, he was staring at her really weirdly. First like he couldn't see her at all, then a shocked kind of face as if he had only just realized she was there.  
  
Her confused feeling didn't last long though. It was quickly replaced with an unbearable pain. She screamed as Ansems shot pierced her just below her heart. It felt like fire was spreading from her wound all around her body, engulfing her. It hurt so much. She staggered backward, head dizzy from pain. She looked forward and tried to focus her fogging eyes. Riku was running to her again. But he's safe...  
  
She never thought something could hurt so much. She couldn't think anymore. The darkness was already eating away at her vision. She didn't realize she was still stumbling backward toward the cliff. Not until, somehow through the immense pain burning her, she felt the crumbling edge of the cliff with one foot. Through the fog, she saw Riku reach for her and she did the same. Her movement didn't affect the pain at all; it was too great to be altered by something so small. He was so close. She almost felt his hand grasp hers. But how could she, she hurt too much.  
  
No, he didn't grab her. It didn't matter. He couldn't save her now. She was dying. As she fell backward off the cliff, her head spun so much and she was torn between fighting for consciousness and letting the darkness take her pain away. It didn't matter though, because the darkness won, and her mind went blank.  
  
No, it couldn't be. But Riku was sure of it now. All this time, Mariha had really been Naomi. No wonder he started having those dreams when he met Mariha. He should have been happy. But how could he be, he had still lost her. Naomi and Mariha, though they were the same person, he had lost them again. Staring blankly into the nothingness below, all the memories started flooding his mind now, hundreds of them, all with her when they were little. He didn't even try to hold back the tears that now wet his face.   
  
"NAOMI" he tried to scream at the top of his lungs, but his voice was cracked from choking on sobs. No, he wouldn't loose her again. He stood and wiped his face.  
  
"I'm not afraid this time," he whispered with eyes closed. Without hesitation he jumped off the edge of the cliff and awaited the darkness to engulf him.  
  
But it didn't come. He opened his eyes. Ansem had caught him in mid air.  
  
"You can't get away that easily fool!" he said menacingly, "Not before I have some fun with you." He threw his head back and laughed like a maniac, as his guardian who had caught Riku threw him mercilessly to the rocky ground.  
  
The darkness was endless. There was no bottom to the gorge, just an infinite space of choking nothingness. Mariha's mind was completely blank, she was falling deeper and deeper into the darkness, both physically and literally. She felt nothing, all her senses being eaten away at by the dark surrounding and filling her. Then, the softest echo of a voice bouncing down from the rock walls reached her ears, not that she could hear it.   
  
Her lifeless body just fell. It would fall forever, the hole never ending. But that soft echo slowly grew, getting louder, closer and clearer. It wouldn't fade away; it chased her body so she would soon hear it as if someone was standing right by her ear talking to her. It finally reached its goal. The sounds of Riku's voice filled her head.  
  
"Naomi..."  
  
Her eyes shot open and she gasped, the life flowing back into her. Like there was still some hope left, like there was suddenly something more to live for. But when her eyes opened, she didn't see the darkness that was feeding on her. Instead, hundreds of pictures flashed before her eyes. It was her, when she was little. She saw the sun, the beach, the sea, and... Riku!   
  
"I... I remember..." she said in barley a whisper.  
  
The unbearable pain had ceased now and was replace with something else. A warm feeling flowed through Mariha's burning limbs, but though warm, it still cooled them from the stinging sensation of pain she had felt for so long. It was familiar though, but this time she didn't try to stop it. Within the blink of an eye, Natia had awakened again.  
  
"Hurry up Sora!"  
  
"Calm down Donald! I need to concentrate!" replied the brown haired teen. Donald had all of a sudden become really annoying... but then again, when was he ever not annoying?  
  
Donald was freaking out because Sora tried to open the door, but it didn't exactly work. He used the Keyblade like he always did, pointing it at the door and focusing his energy to open it rather than close it this time. But not even a spark of light appeared. Nothing happened.  
  
"Why isn't it working?" asked Kairi. Sora could hear a tint of worry in her voice.  
  
"Sora's just stalling!" complained Donald making a big I-don't-know-how-anyone-can-put-up-with-him-anyways frown.  
  
"Um, doesn't there need to be a keyhole for it to work?" said Goofy. Everyone looked to the door. It was just like it had always been. Just a big blank wooden door. It had never shown any sign of a keyhole being there. The one time Sora saw that door open, he couldn't see if there was a keyhole anyway.  
  
But Sora was confused. He had the Keyblade now, the keyhole should appear like it had for all the other worlds he visited and sealed. It didn't make any sense. Then a thought hit him.  
  
"Riku..." he said quietly only Kairi heard him.  
  
"What?" quacked Donald, "That better not have been directed at me or-"  
  
"That's right!" Kairi said before Donald could finish. In a huff, he turned to go sit on some rock, muttering to himself.  
  
"Riku needs to release the light within Kingdom Hearts doesn't he?" continued Kairi.  
  
"But... what if he hasn't found it..." Sora didn't know what to do; his hopes of Riku's return were slowly fading away.  
  
"We can't do anything but wait I guess," replied Kairi.  
  
"Yea..."  
  
Riku hit the ground hard but slowly got up to his knees and wiped the blood out of his eyes. It was slowly trickling down his face, bruises already beginning to ripen around his eyes. He ached, he hurt, but he couldn't stop. Ansem killed her. As soon as he found her again, he took her away. He already had such a loathing for that unbelievably evil man, and now it was too large a hate to be controlled. His body resented it, but his mind wouldn't let himself stop from lashing out at Ansem.  
  
"Hahahaha, my dear boy, you are so naïve," he laughed, easily dodging Riku's futile attempts to attack him, "You think you're heart is so strong, but your body begs to differ. Ah I shall enjoy breaking you!"  
  
With that, Ansem raised his arms and his guardian sent a barrage of spinning sharp saws of energy. Riku cried out in pain and was sent flying backward. Lying on his back, his mind began to become clouded with pain.  
  
"No, I won't die," he said though he thought he only said it in his head, "Not until you pay..."  
  
Ansem just laughed. Riku couldn't even get up. The last of his energy was put to keeping the boy alive. Cut and bruised all over his body, blood soaking and staining his already blood stained clothes.   
  
"It's over, you will be mine again, and I will have much fun in breaking your soul!" Ansem roared. But suddenly, he felt something from deep below. It was the familiar aura of power that he had created.   
  
"No that's impossible!" he shrieked.  
  
Riku had no idea what he was talking about. The psycho had finally cracked, but he tilted his head to the direction Ansem was looking anyway. He was confused. He didn't see anything. Nothing was there except for the cliff.   
  
Then suddenly, he thought he saw something black shoot up from its depths. Or maybe he just blinked. His head spun and he struggled to remain conscious. He couldn't die, he wouldn't. But then he heard a familiar voice.  
  
"Don't you know you should pick on people your own size?" It was Natia! O great... now how was he going to get out of this?  
  
"Ah, Natia!" said Ansem delightfully, "Was the girls mind sucked away? Why of course it was, how else would you be here," He smiled sisterly.  
  
She returned the same smile, then flew like a shot over to him and stuck him across the face with such force that he flew backwards. She remained hovering over Riku, now glaring with the most piercing eyes imaginable in Ansems direction. As she did so, Riku thought he saw her glowing a dim blue colour. He realized that the aura began to spread over his body. He expected more pain, but it wasn't painful. It was actually refreshing. Like Natia was giving him her energy.  
  
"Wha -how dare you!" Ansem fumed, "I am you master, how dare you strike me!"  
  
"You don't own me..."  
  
"What?!"  
  
Natia's piercing eyes flickered red as the rage inside began swelling.  
  
"You don't own me! Didn't you learn from your last little experiment you can't control what you create?" she said and laughed, "Look at you, couldn't even control a young boy, and still need a guardian to do your dirty wok!"  
  
Ansem was fuming. "How DARE you disrespect ME!" He shot a dark energy ball at Natia. She simply sighed and stopped it with one hand. Ansem watched in horror as the ball disintegrated, and Natia was left with not even a tiny scratch.  
  
There was a slight hesitation before Ansems next assault, but he had succeeded in singeing off some of Natia's hair. After that, they became two dark blurs of shadow locked in a deadly combat. Riku saw everything, but he was totally blown away. What had happened? Why was Natia helping him when every other time he encountered her she nearly killed him. And what happened to Naomi?  
  
Now able to stand, Riku rose and just watched the blurs collide and break apart. They were going to fast, he couldn't see what exactly was happening. Just standing there he felt kind of bored. No action for him, even though he still had no weapon. Whatever, he didn't need one really...  
  
Meanwhile, Ansem and Natia flew at each other in hopes of knocking the other to the ground. Hits were given and received, but both recovered too quickly to falter much. Natia began to worry; her strength had lessened since she gave Riku some of her energy. But he needed it.  
  
Ansem sensed the slightest distress in her mind and smirked whilst they were momentarily face-to-face, there now brandished blades locked together. She frowned and threw him away from her. They both remained hovering, facing each other a few meters separating them.  
  
"You can't beat me," Ansem chuckled, "I created you!"  
  
He charged at her again but she blocked. Thus creating another moment where there faces were just inches away from each other.  
  
"No matter how you fight it, I still control your mind," Ansem lied coldly. He knew he couldn't control her anymore. He already tried. But he only needed her guard to be down for the smallest moment.  
  
"L-liar!" she yelled but he saw her flinch in the slightest way. Her strength was weakening. He took his chance and quickly summoned another small blade to his free hand. Before Natia could pull away, he swiftly stabbed her in the side.   
  
"Mariha no!" Riku called as he watched her slowly back away from Ansem. She slowly looked down to the wound now gushing blood. She half smiled smugly and yanked the blade from her side.  
  
"Ha, you think that was nothing don't you?" laughed Ansem, "Soon your powers will be rendered useless. I created you remember? I know all your weaknesses, and I installed this one just in case something of this sort was to happen."  
  
She glared at him but could already feel her energy leaving her. She looked down at her side. Covered in blood, she could barely see a dim glow of blue. The dagger he stabbed her with put that in there, and it was eating her energy. She tried to grab it, but an immense pain shot through her. She cried out.  
  
"Mariha!" Riku called again. He felt so useless. Then something hit him. Of course, the light could save them! It was his last hope...   
  
"Mariha you have to remember!" he called and ran closer to her. She tried hard to stay afloat in the air, but she slowly began to descend to the ground.  
  
"Huh?" she looked at him running to her as she landed, head spinning. She barely had the energy now to keep her eyes open. Just as they were about to close, she felt him grab her shoulders and shake her awake.  
  
"Remember, Naomi!" he said. It sounded like he was calling from far away, but the name caught her ear.  
  
"I-I'm her..."  
  
"Yes! Come one stay awake!" Riku said shaking her more as her eyes threatened to shut forever, "Remember, all the fun we had. Remember you dared Sora to climb the coconut tree and he got stuck? Remember when we played hide and seek and I couldn't find you? Remember, come on!"  
  
"Yea... I remember you..." She was so tired. Just let her sleep, just for a little while...  
  
"Naomi, that's your name! Why did the heartless call you Mariha?" Riku didn't know what he was saying exactly, he just needed to keep her awake so anything would do.  
  
Ansem however, who had been watching and becoming really amused in the situation suddenly spoke. "No, how could I not see?"  
  
"Light..."  
  
"What?" Riku stopped shaking Natia for a moment. Was he right after all?  
  
"Light... it means light!" said Natia, fully awake again. Riku was right and he smiled. Yes! He'd found it, rather her! But he suddenly felt Natia grab him and shove him aside.  
  
He heard a scream and looked up from the ground. Ansem laughed madly. He defiantly had cracked.  
  
"Yes! I have finally found the light! And now I will finally be rid of it!" he said in pure joy.  
  
Riku looked in horror. Ansem had struck Natia with his blade, right at her heart. He could already see the darkness falling away from her until she finally turned back to whom he was so used to as being Mariha. He wanted to look away, but he couldn't. His eyes were locked on her face. She looked at him for a moment and he felt his life being sucked away. It was written all over her face.   
  
"Thank you, you've been the bestest friend ever..."  
  
He didn't know if he had imagined it or if she had really said it. No matter though, he didn't have time to think about it because Ansem soon withdrew his blade and flew up high in triumph. Mariha crumpled to the ground, eyes ghostly blank.  
  
"No..." he couldn't feel anything any more. He felt nothing but a numbing sensation come over his body. They were so close. She was the light. She was his best friend. This couldn't be destiny...  
  
He crawled over to her lifeless body and felt her hand. Icy cold. He couldn't stop himself, totally forgetting Ansem was right above him, he cried. Then he laughed at himself half-heartedly.  
  
"You're not gone yet," he tried to convince himself. Ansem again finding this rather amusing watched and laughed mockingly. But he wasn't there in Riku's mind, "Not until I tell you..."  
  
He paused and bowed his head over her. It was too much for him, he never felt so completely alone in his life. Never felt such sorrow before.  
  
"Not until I tell you... how much I love you..."  
  
Then time seemed to stand still. A single tear fell from Riku's face and landed on Naomi's bloody chest. As it did, a sudden blinding light shone and Riku opened his eyes to look. Ansem stopped laughing, and was now shielding his eyes in confusion.  
  
"What! Where is that?" he said in surprise.  
  
Riku looked into the light. It didn't hurt his eyes at all, which confused him, but he saw where it was coming from. His own heart. A bright light shone from his own heart. He heard a sort of, clicking sound, almost like a key in a lock, and his light faded. But, it was only to be replaced by another. This one he too had to cover his eyes. He only managed to get a glimpse of its source. It was Naomi. The light inside her heart had been released.  
  
He backed away; the lights glare to painful to be so close to. As he did, Naomi's body rose. The wound was gone, replaced with the light. She still seemed unconscious, then there was a sudden intense flash. The light dimmed a bit after that, and Riku took his hand away to gaze in wonder. It was Naomi, but her hair had been undone so it flew around wildly. She was also wearing a dress of some sort. But the thing that Riku was in awe of most was the two brilliant angelic wings; fully stretched out from her back. Her hands were in front of her chest, and between them hovered a small orb of light. The light of Kingdom Hearts. The light of her heart.  
  
Her eyes slowly opened and she spoke, though her mouth didn't seem to move, and the voice coming from inside Riku's head almost.  
  
"Ansem, your time is at an end. May the darkness be vanquished at last."  
  
"What! Never! You cannot rid the darkness, it is everywhere!" he said, still taken aback that the light had even been released after everything that had happened.  
  
"True, but you have thrown the balance off. And so I will rebalance it." A wisp of light, flowing through the air like water, surrounded Ansem. His guardian disintegrated, as so did Ansem.  
  
"No, you will not defeat me! No one can!" he screamed as the last of him faded away into nothing. Soon his voice was only a dying echo.  
  
"Riku"  
  
He looked at her in surprise. He was so surprised about everything that was happening, he jumped at the sound of his name.  
  
"You may finally go home now."  
  
She smiled and something began to materialize just behind her. He didn't know what at first, but then it became clear.  
  
"The door..."  
  
Behind Naomi was the door of Kingdom Hearts, the same one Riku himself helped close when he last saw Sora.  
  
"Go through, the door is open"  
  
A/N: well, there ya have it! Almost done tear lol not like ppl care :( meh, plz review! Make me happy, n then I'll update more - 


	20. Shed Some Light

A/N: Ha ha! and you thought it was over... well it's not... not for another chappy anwayz! =P As a final chappy should be, i worked real hard on it (hence the long update... don't you just hate writers block?) and i'm quite proud of it. lol, nice and long... **THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REDONE!!!** because i forgot to add a crutal part in OO thats wut i get for not updating for soo long.... (if you already read all of it, i just changed the ending.. you should prolly be able to figrue out where) Thanks!  
  
Disclaimer: For the last time! (literally...) I don't own Kingdom Hearts! But guess wut i do own.... UR SOUL MUWAHAHAHAHA! -cough- carry on...  
  
Shed Some Light  
  
"Sora look!"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
The brown haired boy looked up from where he was sitting on the ground. Kairi had somehow gotten into his lap, and he looked over her shoulder to see what she was pointing at. He followed her slender arm to her hand, then her finger, pointing out to the door of the "Secret Place". It was glowing.  
  
"What's that?" Donald quaked.  
  
"I don't know," Sora said. Kairi got off of him so he could stand and get closer to it.  
  
"Uh, careful Sora," Goofy warned, "Remembered what happened last time you touched the glowing shiny thing."  
  
Sora ignored him and carefully touched the door. He could feel the smooth wooden surface, but the glow made it warm to the touch. When he came in contact with it, he felt like he had just been completely refreshed. Like waking up after a good nights rest, energy fully restored. He suddenly pulled back thought, as the light of his own heart leapt to his fingers and into the door.  
  
"Sora!" Kairi said in concern.  
  
He didn't reply, but they all watched as his light, combined with the doors, began to fade away and reveal a golden keyhole. Sora broke out into his famous grin and looked over to everyone else.  
  
"He did it!" he exclaimed, "Riku really did it!"  
  
Everyone cheered and Kairi ran over to Sora and hugged him tight. Goofy and Donald preformed some sort of victory dance chanting: "Riku really did it, Riku really did it!"  
  
"Open it Sora," whispered Kairi.  
  
Sora nodded and she pulled away to give Sora the room he needed. With all his heart, he summoned the Keyblade to open the door. He had only sealed them before, so he put everything he had into opening it. The light gathered at the end of the Keyblade and shot into the keyhole. Soon, the familiar clicking sound of a lock was heard and Sora lowered his Keyblade.  
  
He looked and Kairi and smiled. "Lets do it together."  
  
"Riku, thank you, but you must go now," rang Naomi's voice as the light she held was suddenly gone. She was still floating with those wings, with that expressionless face, but all her light had returned back inside her. And he didn't see it, but back inside her necklace as well. The circle pendant with the star on the front, only now the engravings surrounding the star had returned. The necklace was once again how it was when Riku first gave it to her for her sixth birthday.  
  
Riku couldn't say anything. He couldn't move. The day had finally come, the day when he'd walk through the door and finally be home. Sora and Kairi, and the whole island were just a few steps away. He wanted to run to it, afraid that the door might suddenly disappear. But he couldn't move. It all happened so fast.  
  
"Why did you say thank you?" he asked, then covered his mouth with his hands. He didn't mean to say that. It's like someone else asked through him. But Naomi, ignoring or not noticing his surprise answered anyways.  
  
"Do you not remember?" she asked but didn't expect him or give him the time to answer, "At the gates of Hallow Bastion it was proved that you were the true master to be chosen by the Keyblade. The only reason it failed to come to you that night on your island was because you welcomed the darkness before it could get to you, thus choosing Sora instead."  
  
As she spoke, every word seemed to be lined with great depth and emotion, yet at the same time, it seemed like a toneless drone with no feeling at all. She continued, and caused Riku's mind to flood with visions of that night, and everything she spoke of, down to the very tiniest detail.  
  
"If you had not chosen the dark path, the Keyblade would be yours at this very moment. Even now, now that you have seen the light and returned to it, the Keyblade would return to your hand if it's task had not already been completed," she continued and new visions came to Riku, ones he had not experienced, but perhaps Naomi was giving them to him, "Only the true chosen one has the power to unlock the great light of Kingdom Hearts. A strange twist in fate caused the Keyblade to chose a secondary master, but the true one it was intended for was you. Therefore only you had the power to unlock the light."  
  
"But I don't understand," said Riku before he could stop himself, "How could I unlock the light with no Keyblade? With nothing at all?"  
  
"You hold the greatest weapon of all, your heart. The Keyblade was created to bring the holder to understanding to his task, and to aid in sealing the worlds. The heart is the real key. When it comes to tasks that require the chosen ones heart, Sora would fail. Only you have the power within your heart." There was a moment of silence, as everything Naomi was tell Riku slowly sunk in. He understood everything now. But before he could say a word, Naomi continued, "Riku, it is time now to go through the door. Your role, as well as Sora's, has ended. Everything will become what it once was. So go home now."  
  
He looked up again and looked at Naomi as if seeing her for the first time.  
  
"Aren't you coming?" he said.  
  
She shook her head. "You belong on your island, I belong here."  
  
"But you were living on my island before you were here!" Riku said, shocked at what his friend was saying.  
  
"But before that, I wasn't an orphan. I know now, I was never a person. I was born when Kingdom Hearts was, the body a disguise for the light inside."  
  
"That can't be true!" Riku yelled, full of anxiousness, "You're a real person, you were my best friend, still are! I won't forget about you like I did before. I broke a promise, and I won't again. I promised you'd come to my island!"  
  
She paused for a second, confused. The first emotion Riku saw on her face since the light had been released. He could see Mariha, or at least the girl he had met all that time ago, coming back into consciousness. She began to fall gently to the ground, wings fading away, looking more like a ghostly figure had been there all along and weren't really real, until they vanished completely.  
  
Riku went over to her. Walking slowly. "You may have been born as the light of Kingdom Hearts, but you'll always be Naomi to me, be Mariha to me. Be the girl that I fell in love with..."  
  
Her clothes change back. Her eyes fluttered closed as she failed to support herself as she landed and began to fall to the ground. But he caught her, just as her feet touched the ground, just before she could fall. Her eyes opened once more, to reveal the life in them again. She went limp for a second, like all the energy was drained from her, but recovered quickly to stand without Riku's support. But he wouldn't let go of her. He pulled her into a tight hug, like he was never ever going to let go.  
  
"Riku..."  
  
"You heard me, I love you, I'll never let you go again," Riku said, he needed to say it, it had been held up inside for too long, so long that he no longer cared if she returned his feelings or not; anything so she would come home with him, "Never let you down again... I-"  
  
But he couldn't finish, Mariha had slipped her arms around Riku's back, and let a hand run up to become buried in his hair. She pulled his head close; close enough to allow her to lock her lips with his. Riku was caught off-guard, but let his eyes close as his hand involuntarily drowned in her hair and deepened the kiss. Neither Riku nor Mariha had felt so completely whole ever before. And neither of them noticed, but as their hearts became one, two long steamed roses shaping a circle appeared on Mariha's necklace. Everything was complete. That moment felt like an eternity, and he would have gladly continued for longer but she pulled away so they could both breathe.  
  
Riku looked at her with a puzzled look in his eyes and opened his mouth to say something, but she put a finger to his mouth, stopping him from uttering a word. She beamed at him; like she did when they had first met, and Riku finally knew that annoying feeling he had been getting so long ago when she did that. He smiled back, then heard a familiar voice.  
  
"Riku!"  
  
Riku and Mariha turned to where the cheerful voice of Sora came from. He was standing in the doorway, waving and calling for him. He looked closer, and sure enough, Kairi was standing beside him, staring in surprise and joy.  
  
"Come on!" Riku said to his old friend Naomi and grabbed her hand to pull her toward the door.  
  
He couldn't wait to go home, and finally with Naomi! He looked up at Sora and Kairi as he broke out into a run. He couldn't tell, but they didn't seem to see Naomi at all. Their faces showing not a hint of confusion as Riku dragged a girl from Kingdom Hearts with him.  
  
When he finally reached the door, up close, he could see a thin material dividing him and his friends, Kingdom Hearts and Destiny Islands. It was like water, rippling with the slightest movement of the air.  
  
"Riku," said Sora as he beamed at him. Riku returned the gesture, "Come on, you're finally home." With that, Sora and Kairi stepped aside to allow Riku to come through the small opening of the door.  
  
Riku nodded and looked over to Naomi. "You ready?"  
  
She nodded, but a shred of guilt let itself creep across her face. She was the light of Kingdom Hearts, so what would happen when she left? Would Kingdom Hearts really become nothing but darkness? Riku knew that's what she was thinking, but he had a theory of his own...  
  
He started forward, raising his free hand to touch the water-like barrier first before letting the rest of him follow through. He held on tighter to Naomi's hand. He opened his eyes to find himself in the secret place, a place where Sora had once thought there were monsters in, but then came here often... often with Kairi.  
  
He looked forward at his smiling friends, but then back. Naomi hadn't followed him. His had was still grasping onto hers, but it was on the other side. And when he looked through the "water", he didn't see her. It was like he was holding onto air. But he could still feel her hand. A thought crossed his mind. What if she was right? What if she really couldn't leave, from this side, it was like she didn't even exist.  
  
"Riku, are you ok?"  
  
He looked forward again, to Kairi who's face held concern. He nodded, but Sora gave him a look. The famous "hey-you're-lying-and-I'm-not-falling-for-that-one-again" look Riku had provoked Sora into doing so many times when they were little. He laughed a bit.  
  
"O man, he's gone mad," joked Sora and poked Riku in the stomach.  
  
"Stop that!" said Riku and shooed Sora's hand away, "I'm not mad. Sora, remember when I said that I couldn't leave before because someone was with me?"  
  
Sora gagged at him. "O yea! I totally forgot about that, who are they and why were they there!" he said in alarm, which caused Riku to laugh at him more.  
  
"Well..." He knew it had to work, she WAS real, she had lived here before, she was coming home too. He pulled his hand back, the one still holding onto Naomi's. It was hard, it was like getting an elephant to move, but he kept pulling, just hoping he wasn't really hurting her.  
  
"Riku...?" Sora and Kairi were both completely confused, but the looked over his shoulder to see what he was doing nonetheless.  
  
He kept pulling, he saw his whole hand now, and in it was Naomi's! Suddenly, a voice rang through his head, and it seemed like time froze.  
  
'_Riku! I can't more. I can't leave..._'  
  
_Come on!_ he said to her though in the form of a thought, hey if she did, he could too, _nothing will come between us, not this stupid watery thing, not if you love me...  
_  
'_Riku... I... I do!_'  
  
_More than anything?  
_  
'_YES!_'  
  
Then he saw her. Through the barrier that had kept her hidden from vision until now. Time was frozen now, but Riku remained conscious of what was happening. He couldn't move, but he saw it. He saw a little flying snake-like thing covering in pure white feathers with little feathery wings appear, wrapped around Naomi. And another, only this one as black as a moonless night covered with scales and wings that reminded him of Natia's...  
  
It was the Light and the Dark inside of Naomi. The Light was now equal with the Dark and both could remain in Kingdom Hearts forever. Naomi's body wasn't needed anymore. Alee and Natia's true from nodded in unison at Riku then they both released Naomi, unwinding themselves from around her.  
  
Time started again, but it started to suddenly it was as if a dam broke, and all the water came tumbling onto him at once... literally! The barriers hold on Naomi gave way so suddenly, that she fell right on top of Riku, who then fell backwards to the ground, with Sora under him.  
  
Riku looked over Naomi's shoulder, and caught a glimps of Alee and Natia before the opening he had come through closed up to be replaced with that wooden door.  
  
"Riku!" Sora complained, "GET OFF!"  
  
Naomi, seeing as she was the one on the very top of the pile up, quickly scrambled to her feet and help Riku up with the hand that he still held. Sora just lay on the ground for a second, catching his breath.  
  
"Riku..." he panted, "since... when... have... you... gotten... so... heavy?"  
  
Kairi giggled. Sora hadn't noticed Naomi yet for she was hidden behind Riku.  
  
"What?" moaned Sora. Then a head popped up from behind Riku's shoulder.  
  
"I'm sorry!" said the new girl and held out a hand for Sora to get up. He took it before looking at who was helping him, but when he was halfway to his feet, he noticed that it wasn't Kairi helping him up but another girl. He yelped and let go of her hand, this causing him to fall back onto his butt.  
  
Kairi burst out to burst out into fits of laughter (obviously not phased at all at another person just popping out of Kingdom Hearts... for some reason), even Riku couldn't hold back a chuckle. Sora just stared at Naomi and blinked.  
  
"AHH! IT'S A GHOST!" he shrieked and jumped into Goofy's arms.  
  
Kairi was now practically on the floor laughing, Naomi was near tears of laughter and Riku had long given up trying to hold it in.  
  
"Hey..." said Naomi in a thoughtful tone, "Sora? Yea Sora! I remember." She grinned widely. She had completely forgotten about when Ansem showed Sora to her in that trick. Then again she didn't realize she knew him then. It was a shock to see him all grown up all of a sudden, when last she remembered him was the night she "drowned".  
  
Sora however, stared at the with his mouth hanging open in surprise and shock. He stared for the longest time, and no one spoke, but Kairi finally shut Sora's mouth with a giggle.  
  
"What's wrong Sora?" Riku chuckled, "Don't tell me you forgot about Naomi already." Boy it felt good to be teasing Sora again like old times. Of course Sora remembered Naomi; he didn't hold that bad habit of wiping his memory of some things like Riku did. Since they day Naomi disappeared, Sora knew never to speak of her to Riku again, until even Sora almost forgot.  
  
"R-Riku," Sora began (now out of Goofy's arms), staggering slowly to Naomi, holding out his hand is if to touch her to see if she was real. But Kairi bounced in his path, nearly knocking him over to greet the "newcomer" everyone else seemed to know.  
  
"Kairi," she said with a cheerful smile and held out her hand.  
  
"Naomi," she replied, returning the smile and shaking hands with the other girl, "I'm an old friend of Sora and Riku." Then a puzzled look washed over her face, "I'm sorry, I don't remember you Kairi."  
  
"Oh, I came to the island when I was about six..." she then looked at Sora who was still looking at Naomi like a ghost, "Sora, you never mentioned Naomi at all before."  
  
There was a pause, but Sora finally found his voice and couldn't help but blurt it out:  
  
"S-she's dead."  
  
"She looks very alive to me," said Goofy, poking Naomi timidly in the shoulder.  
  
"Goo-fy!" wailed Donald and pulled him back, trying not to be rude, but couldn't help himself from checking and quickly poking her hand before withdrawing with Goofy behind Kairi.  
  
"Yea Sora, "I think you've officially lost it," teased Kairi, twirling her finger beside her head to display Sora's craziness.  
  
Sora stuck his tongue out at Kairi while her back was turned to him so she didn't see. Naomi did, however, and held in the giggle as best she could, but couldn't stop a smile from breaking out over her face.  
  
He's just how I remember him, she thought.  
  
Sora then turned to Riku as Kairi, Donald, Goofy and Naomi began talking amongst themselves. He looked at his friend with a stern glare, pointing his finger at the silver-haired teen.  
  
"Explain!" demanded Sora.  
  
Riku laughed, "Okay, okay, but lets get out of here first. I haven't seen day for - I don't even know how long."  
  
Sora gave Riku the best pouty face he could muster up before replying. "Fine. Kairi? Donald? Goofy? Come on lets go outside."  
  
"Yessir!" the three chimed together and stood at attention, hands at the salute.  
  
"Ha ha very funny now lets go!" was Sora's reply and couldn't stop his mouth from curving slightly upwards. He let the three out before he turned to leave himself, but he hesitated and looked back at Riku and Naomi. Neither of them had budged. Riku opened his mouth to say something, but Sora spoke before a word was uttered.  
  
"I'll meet you guys out there," he said then turned to leave again.  
  
"Sora!"  
  
He turned at the call of his name.  
  
"Thanks," Riku said with a grateful smile.  
  
Sora just flashed his famous goofy grin before joining the others outside.  
  
Riku looked back at Naomi, just standing their still in front of the once again plain door. He looked into her eyes. It was strange to think that the girl standing before him, with her hair messily tied up again and face dirty with a little dust and dried blood, was the same kind-hearted young girl from so long ago who had found him alone in the rain. She looked so different now compared to her six-year-old appearance, but one thing remained the same. Her soft brown eyes still danced with joy and laughter deep inside, like his childhood friend was still in there, waiting for him to let her out and play together again under the sun.  
  
Naomi's mind was filled with similar thoughts about Riku. She finally remembered, and Riku looked just as she would picture him to be all "grown-up" when she was six. The same confident smile, the same light silvery hair, and the same mystifying eyes.  
  
There was an awkward silence between them for a moment. Riku could feel nervousness coming over him because, although he always appeared to be the strong and confident one, he was shy about his feelings for Naomi. He never was shy about his feelings for Kairi, so he was a little confused as to why he was with Naomi. But he realized why almost as soon as he questioned it. He didn't love Kairi the same way he loved Naomi.  
  
"Um, so I'm Naomi now right?" said Naomi at last, breaking the eerie silence, "It's going to be kinda weird since I'm used to Mariha but..."  
  
She smiled warmly at him causing Riku to melt inside. He was getting even more nervous, and Naomi wasn't helping... damn it!  
  
"So," continued Naomi, seeing Riku's uneasiness, "I guess we should meet everyone outside." She walked up to Riku and grabbed his hand before beginning to lead him away and out of the cave.  
  
But Riku didn't move when she pulled at his arm. Instead, he gripped her hand tighter and pulled so she fell into him. She gasped in surprise but Riku wrapped his arms around her anyways and held her tight.  
  
"You'll always be Mariha to me," he whispered softly.  
  
She hugged him back and the two of them just stood there for a moment.  
  
"Riku it wasn't your fault," she said in a quiet voice.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
She hugged him tighter. "That day, when I was lost and sent to Kingdom Hearts. Remember during that storm? It wasn't your fault."  
  
"No Mariha, I could have saved you," he said back, the memory almost causing tears to form in his eyes, "If I just jumped in for a second I could have gotten you."  
  
"What?" said Mariha letting him go to look at his face, "You don't remember it all do you?"  
  
Riku just gave her a puzzled look. She sighed.  
  
"I got sick from the cold wind and rain from getting those coconuts for you and Sora... they never blew off the trees I had to climb up and get them," she said slowly, "I probably wouldn't have survived the night if you and Sora hadn't bravely decided to head home in the storm. Besides, none of this would have ever happened."  
  
So that's why... That's why Riku's dream of that day suddenly changed out of nowhere, with no explanation at all. His evil half only wanted him to feel responsible for her death, not letting him know that she would've died if they had stayed away from going out on the water. And she was right, he wouldn't be back safely with her here if all that didn't happen the way it did. Wow... funny how destiny works...  
  
Riku pulled her into a hug again and held her for a few seconds before he let her go.  
  
"Come on, I want to show you." With that, Riku took her hand again and side-by-side they made their way through the little tunnel to the outside where everyone would be waiting.  
  
He led her out of the cave, through the tunnel but made her cover her eyes as he guided her. As soon as he had led her away from the tree, and onto the edge of the platform before the sandy beach started, facing the wide sparkling ocean on that sunny day, he gave her the best birthday present she could ask for since that little necklace he gave her exactly eight years ago.  
  
"Ok, you can open them now," he said with a smile. And he would never forget the look on her face when she saw the light of day for the first time in so long. He made a mental note to himself as well; never take these beautiful warm sunny days on his island for granted ever again.  
  
THE END  
  
A/N: there, it is done and over with! I hope anyone who read this enjoyed it somewhat at least =P Thank you soooo much to you if you've reviewed! The reviewers are what keeps me writing... and the fact that i couldn't stop if my life depended on it (no matter how bad the piece o.O) COOKIES FOR YOU ALL! -tosses cookies into the air- 


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